Appleton auctions bottle of rum for $2.4 million
Published:Wednesday | July 20, 2022 | 12:10 AM
The makers of Appleton Estate rums this week auctioned a bottle of the premium blend, containing spirits as old as 60 years, for US$16,000, or $2.4 million, at an event in Kingston, with Jamaica’s tourism ministry announcing that it will acquire dozens of bottles of the aged rums for its overseas gift-giving.
“We will acquire 60 bottles of 60-year-old that will be my gift for the next 60 months as we move across the world,” Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said as he spoke at the event, dubbed ‘Decades’, held at Hope Gardens in St Andrew on Monday.
At the event, rum maker J. Wray & Nephew Limited, JWN, launched ‘Decades’, a blend of rum from each decade of the six decades of Jamaica’s Independence. The product retails for US$1,700, or $259,590, per 750ml bottle. Neither the tourism ministry nor JWN, the local subsidiary of Italy-based Campari Group, Appleton’s owner, disclosed the price to be paid for the government’s planned overseas corporate giveaways, but it is believed that they will be purchased at the going retail price for the product. This would involve an expenditure of more than US$100,000, or about $15 million, for the planned acquisition of the prized spirits.
Bartlett said that the ministry will gift the first bottle to a dignitary in Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, later this year.
The auctioned item was the final of the limited edition of 1,962 bottles in the collection, all signed by JWN’s master blender Joy Spence, the company officials told the Financial Gleaner. Another 10 bottles of the rums were bought by another purchaser during the event.
It was dislosed that the proceeds from the sale of the special-edition rums will be donated to the Appleton Estate Basic School in St Elizabeth, the home of Appleton Estate and where the main distillery is still located.
The Decades has a taste profile that invokes the aroma of honey and molasses. The flavour notes include nutmeg, walnut, maple and musky vanilla, finishing with hints of soft oak and a distinctive orange zest, the company indicated.
The launch and auction event was in celebration of Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence.
The tourism minister also announced the appointment of two tourism brand ambassadors, with two more to be revealed.
“Tonight, I announce Dr Joy Spence to be Jamaica’s diamond jubilee tourism ambassador. And with her will be one of the finest cricketers, Chris Gayle,” he said.
Appleton Estate is the oldest continuous rum operation in the island spanning hundreds of years. Globally, it is one of the few rum producers with reserves that span decades. J. Wray & Nephew has not branded its Decades rum as 60-year-old, as it contains rums from earlier decades. The policy of the company is to brand its rums using the youngest age. In 2012, the company launched a 50-year rum which retailed for US$5,000 at the time. On Monday, a patron told the Financial Gleaner that she acquired a 50-year-old bottle this year from a reseller for US$7,500.
J, Wray & Nephew was acquired by the Europe-based Campari Group in 2012 for some US$415 million.