Once again, we’ve searched through the best bottles in the rum world and recruited some of the best brains in the business to help us choose The Whisky Exchange Rum Of The Year. After much debate we have settled on a shortlist of six rums – the best of the best from the past 12 months.

It was a difficult choice to make, but we are thrilled to announce our Rum Of The Year: Appleton Estate 15 Year Old Black River Casks.

The oldest of Jamaica’s sugar cane estates, Appleton Estate began distilling rum in 1749 under the ownership of the Dickinson family. Passing through the hands of many prominent Jamaican families, Appleton Estate produces different styles of rum that reflect the distillery’s terroir.

Appleton Estate is one of a select group of distilleries on the planet who can make legitimate claims of terroir in their spirit – the rum is made exclusively from sugar cane grown on the Estate itself in Jamaica’s lush, verdant Nassau Valley, and every drop is aged on the island. The creation of Appleton Estate rum begins and ends in the same place, and the distillery can – and does – oversee every stage of the process. It is this local approach that has made Appleton Estate so synonymous with Jamaican rum itself.