Appleton maintains its premium stance

Few brands embody the gradual evolution of the rum market as well as Appleton Estate. After building entry-level rum V/X in the on-trade, the emphasis has now shifted much more on to the company’s aged rum range, which now includes 8, 12, 21 and 30 year olds, the latter claimed as the oldest commercially available rum in the world.

In the UK, Harrods window displays for the 21 and 30 Year Old have helped, in the words of Appleton’s Barnaby Rodgers, to make people look at rum more seriously. And bars have moved from working pretty much exclusively with V/X to embrace the more expensive aged rums, moving beyond the hackneyed Mojito to include stronger, more flavourful cocktails such as an Old-Fashioned or a Mai-Tai.

The brand has also relaunched its global website, renewing its long-term emphasis on the provenance of Appleton Estate – with all the production happening in one place. “One of the most important things is to be very clear and concise about what your USPs are, what your product stands for,” says Rodgers. “What the recession has done is to slow down the premiumisation of the sector, and a lot of brands have traded margin for volume.

“We’ve been very resolute and probably could have sold a lot more [by lowering our prices], but have maintained our positioning.”