Jamaican-inspired ideas for your signature cocktail

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Jamaican-inspired ideas for your signature cocktail

Last night, I got a completely new take on rum, and what it can taste like when it's been aged for 12 years. Drinking it straight, I actually noted some of the Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old's nuts, nutmeg, orange peel and vanilla. The rum was like a creamy brown sugar.

The woman above, Joy Spence, was visiting Seattle from Jamaica, where she handcrafts Appleton Estate Rum (which sells really well in Washington state liquor stores, she says). Spence, the industry’s first female "master blender," makes it in oak barrels.  Inspired by our recent article on signature cocktails, I had to go learn more.

Spence paired different rum drinks with every course of dinner, and gave us a lesson each time. She works at the Appleton Estate, Jamaica’s oldest sugar factory and distillery founded in 1749. Oh, and she told me that Jamaicans drink rum all the time, not just at dinner.

Last night, my favorite was the cocktail served with the first course of salad or soup: a blend of rum, ginger demerara syrup, fresh lemon, mint (which made it so pretty) and finished with some sparkling water. Your wedding guests would love it. For more recipes, check out this site.

For more cocktail ideas, see our story.