Velier Appleton Hearts Collection - 1993

A nose that blends wood and glue. You can tell you're in Jamaica, but the profile is old-fashioned and not exuberant. On the palate, it's eose all over the place. Wood, menthol, bitter orange, licorice, leather, cigar leaf. Incredibly rich and complex. Superb length, with notes of mentholated tobacco. Exceptional.

Erinnert durch die Minz/Schwarztee-Note an einen T.D.L mit etwas REV. Dazu kommt ein toller und schwerer Fasseinfluss durch die tropische Reifung. Nach etwas Zeit kommt Grapefruit, Kräuter und etwas Klebstoff dazu. Der Alkohol ist sehr gut eingebunden. Ein schier endloser Abgang. Hier gibt es viel zu entdecken. Toll! Mein Platz 2 aus der Hearts Collection!

Ui da hätte ich doch zuschlagen sollen mit einer Flasche... Herrlich Fruchtig und Frisch 😯😯das hatte ich nicht erwartet. Parallelen zu Guyana REV die ausgewogene Schwere Frucht,Kräutern mit Holz erkennt man hier wieder. ... auch Minze und sogar etwas Funk ist zu riechen und schmecken, toll !! Schöne Überraschung!

Quite exciting. A rum that already has a lot of barrel influence and therefore recognizable signs of age - but has not yet fully matured beyond its zenith and is drowning in bitterness and an exuberant wood influence. On the nose, heavy notes of glue, wood, tea and dark and sweet fruit. There is plenty of mint on the palate, as well as tart hints of leather and spices. The finish is spicy, which makes me think of ginger. That's something, even if I would have liked to have tasted the distillate with 2-3 years less tropical maturation.

Edit: It would be a dream to be able to try the whole Appleton Hearts range. My conclusion would be that this is a really high-quality range. All in all, they are all great bottlings. I personally find it difficult to choose a true winner here. Only the 84 falls a little short. Both it and the 02 can't quite keep up, although that's complaining at a high level. However, if I had to choose one, it would probably be the 03 because it was the first one I tasted from the series. Another wonderful Appleton Hearts bottling. As already mentioned, the minty notes on the palate are reminiscent of T.D.L and REV. I had feared that the long tropical maturation, the cask/wood and especially the bitter note would ruin the drop. But this is not the case. A direct comparison of the complete series is still pending. In any case, very successful.

Verkostet gegen den 2002er Appleton Hearts (RX15475). Und fand ich den schon bei der ersten Verkostung traumhaft, dann muss ich sagen, dass dieser hier mir noch einen Ticken besser gefällt. Er ist etwas weniger alkoholisch und an Nase und Gaumen erdig-würziger, eher KFM-artig (was mir ja bekanntlich sehr gefällt). 😉

Könnte blind echt fast als enmore durchgehen. Sehr geil!! Besonders spannend finde ich die für mich sehr stark an Enmore REV erinnernde Note nach Schwarztee, Brombeeren, Lavendel und Minze sowie etwas Lakritz. Auf die Bitterness muss man allerdings schon stehen... Insgesamt der 2. beste der Reihe aber an den 1998 kommt er nicht dran.

Spürbar alter, lange gelagerter Appleton. Sehr charakterstark durch den Fasseinfluss. Kein glatt geschlifferner seichter Easy Sipper, sondern männlicher, kerniger Rum mit Ecken und Kanten. Mir gefällt er, aber ein Weltklasse Rum ist das nicht, was man bei den Rahmendaten durchaus erwarten könnte.

Update: in direct comparison with the 94 Platzhirsch, it really did extremely well. The 94 is somewhat fruitier and sweeter in my opinion and the 93 has the nicer tannin, wood and mint mixture. Very nice bottling - I'll have to try it again against the 1994 to see which one suits me better, but it's already very good. With the 1994 definitely my favorite of this delicious series. More on the woody-bitter side ... but I don't mind. The nose opens up wonderfully fruity after a while and everything seems a bit like REV and TDL as mentioned before ... but also somehow like the old EMBs. Exactly mine.

In a direct (unfair) comparison with the 2002 Appleton, this one is much better! Dark fruits, herbs, mint and intense black and fresh peach iced tea. The finish is long, here the black and peach iced tea comes through even more with a pleasant woodiness. This rum is fun.

Tasted and enjoyed at the 1802 bar in Paris with good advice! Then in 2024 a nice sample! Nose: very fresh. fine wood, red fruits, menthol, light camphor, a few notes of dark chocolate; milk chocolate... Grapefruit, glue, dried herbs, tea... It's crazy, heady, like a perfume. Mouth: explosive, peppery, spicy. Then fruit returns under a very strong menthol. Finally, chocolate that coats the tongue. Almost unprecedented intensity. Alcohol very slightly present. Finish: big menthol, outrageous woodiness, big tannins, and dark chocolate again!

Today the 1993 in direct comparison with the 2002. This Hearts-typical note, which somehow smells like polish or floor polish, I have with both in the nose, with the 02er a bit more pronounced. The 93 goes a bit more in the direction of freshness, herbs and tobacco, the 02 more in the direction of orange liqueur marzipan cake and brioche. On the palate, both with dried fruit, the longer aging is clearly evident in the 93, expressed in a slight (but not unpleasant) bitterness, tannins and black tea. The 02 has even more sweetness and goes more in the direction of allspice and latte. Both again top notch bottlings, but the 93 is already a bit more complex.

Appleton Hearts Crosstasting with the vintages 2002, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999 (RX15475, RX15474, TBD) 2002: Fruity and spicy with a hint of menthol. Lots of wood and spices on the palate, slightly astringent and bitter, very subtle fruity notes. 1993: Significantly more intense with more spices and more from the cask, plus dirty notes that remind me of TDL or Chairmans. Extremely dry and bitter on the palate with a good barrel impact, slightly charred. I miss something fruity here. The finish is very long! 1994: Similar to 1993, but more fruit and a clear minty note. Clear parallels on the palate too, but not quite as bitter and dirty and fruit notes are still discreetly present. 1999: Lots of wood and spices, with dried fruit and tropical fruit in the background. Fruits in the background. Lots of spices and wood on the palate, but hardly any fruit notes, but no charred/bitter notes either. 1995: Again, dirty aromas with tar, leather and varnish. Similar to 1993/1994, the woody, bitter aromas also dominate the palate here. For me: 1994 ->8.8 2002 + 1999 ->8.7 1993 + 1995 ->8.6

#4023 Had a little time to line up the three new Heart Collection releases before going to a tasting event at Romdeluxe later today. This particular rum is really nice and it's well balanced and fruity with roasted wood notes. Pretty close to saying this is an elegant release and the price is pretty OK at time of release. The empty glass reveals nice coffee and nutty notes and it draws really nice curtains in the glass.

Die Nase ist überraschend würzig und intensiv. Die 63% Alkohol sind derartig gut eingebunden und bringen neben Klebstoff keinerlei Schärfe in die Nase. Selbiges bestätigt sich am Gaumen. Butterweich und dennoch würzig/intensiv breitet sich der 29-jährige im Mund aus. Er erinnert mich sehr stark an einen älteren Armagnac. Tolle Noten von Holz, Leder, Minze und anderen Kräutern kommen neben Schwarztee, Karamell und Lakritze zum Vorschein. Von den 63% bleibt keine Spur und er ist äußerst komplex. Der lange Abgang ist wunderbar würzig mit Kräutern, Röstaromen und Ananas. Wie auch im Gaumen werden alle Aromen von Schwarztee, Karamell und Vanille begleitet. Ein sehr gut gereiftes und abwechslungsreiches Produkt.