The Road to Appleton Estate Distillery (Nassau Valley, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica)

I am a fan of Appleton Estate aged rums and, on a prior trip to Jamaica, I had been treated to a personal, in-home tasting of the Signature (15 aged rums), Reserve (20 rums), and Rare (youngest rum a minimum of 12 years old) blends. For my most recent trip to the island, my friend Paul took it up a notch: he arranged a visit to the distillery so that we could experience how the rums are made.

We started out right after breakfast. We were told that the trip would be approximately 3 hours from our starting point and we would be traversing the internal mountain range (By the way, this visit runs 90 minutes from Negril and 3 hours from Kingston.). This notice did not adequately prepare us for the trip. The mountain range is essentially a limestone plateau and some effort is required to attain the high point. Travel across its core was characterized by twisting, turning travel through winding narrow roads with limited opportunities to pass slower-moving traffic. There were a few instances of motion sickness during the course of the transit.

The map below shows our route, with the light-green coloration representing the scope of the Dry Harbor Mountain Range.

Our route from Priory on the north coast to Appleton Estate

The B3, the north-south artery that we were using to traverse the mountain, forks at a town called Cave Valley, with one branch continuing south and the other striking out southwest and then west to Appleton Estate. We stopped at Cave Valley for a breather, beer, and the bathroom. While drinking some refreshments in a dive bar I challenged the bartender to a game of dominoes but the team was having none of it; onward.

Refreshments at Cave Spring

Street food

Appleton Estate is located in Nassau Valley in Jamaica's St. Elizabeth Parish. The valley is 443 foot above sea level and is the result of erosion of the limestone plateau. The erosion resulted in a flat-bottomed valley with productive terra rosa soils.

As we came around a bend in the trail, the valley stretched out below us as far as the eye could see: lush, green, and with sugar cane leaves swinging lazily in the wind.

We were tired and stiff after the long ride and hurried to exit the bus and stretch our legs once it came to a stop. The surroundings were clean, orderly and welcoming. I snapped a few pictures.

The tour and tasting will be covered in a subsequent post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme