Appleton Out Of Stock

I can't find Appleton 12yr or even the Reserve anywhere. My local retailers say the distributor is out of stock so I started to check around on the internet and both look to be out of stock all over the place; Binny's, BevMo, Astor Wines and elsewhere are out of stock. Last year Appleton switched Coruba to a new importer and the rum disappeared from the market for months. I wonder if they are now moving the Appleton brand to a new importer as well, and if so how long Appleton 12 will be gone? In the meantime I'm using Plantation Jamaica 200 Pot Still Rum in my Mai Tai. It makes a good cocktail, but I prefer my standard recipe of Appleton 12/St James Hor d'Age.

Craig I haven't seen the 12 in Columbus for months. Anywhere. There's still an abundance of V/X, but yes even the Reserve is getting harder to track down. With spring around the corner, my Mai Tais will be feeling the loss of the 12 for sure.

Doesn't seem to be a problem here. I see Special, V/X, Reserve and Extra on our shelves. I even saw two places with the 21 year old on their shelf.

However, this could just be temporary. If I go back in a couple of weeks and they are gone. . . I'll begin to worry.

I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.

GENT

[ Edited by: GentleHangman 2014-04-06 10:54 ]

I think you could order some online through hitimewine.net and have it shipped?

If you do buy online, just do a quick check of state laws since some do have limits (or even taxes required) for what can and can't be shipped directly. I think Ohio is safe though.

Actually I think you might be on to something.

At the end of January I purchased a bottle of 12 in one of those tin looking cardboard cases at Bevmo by my house. They had a bunch. Just the other day I went to the same place and they were totally out of all Appleton except for the cheapest. I have been shopping there for years and I have never seen the Appleton selection so slim. My only guess could be that they wanted them all to be in those new cases and the cases are tougher to make than they had anticipated. Seems strange to me though.

How are we going to make Zombies next weekend???

I talked to the buyer at a large spirits retailer yesterday and he filled me in what's happened. Campari purchased the US rights to Appleton in 2013 and are in the process of switching the brand to their distribution network. Special and V/X are the majority of Appleton's sales in the USA so they seemingly jammed as much of it into their existing distributors as they could. The bad news is that it might be quite some time before Reserve and 12 Year are back, the switch over of Coruba to a new distributor network resulted in that brand disappearing from store shelves for the better part of a year.

I short, it's time to find viable Mai Tai substitutes. Any suggestions?

I guess in my area there just aren't enough high-end rum drinkers. All the usual Appleton rums are still on the shelves in the usual quantities. Special, V/X, Reserve and Extra. In fact, I just purchased two each of V/X and Extra. There appeared to be no change in the usual price either.

That doesn't surprise me GentleHangman, Florida and California and Appleton's top volume states in the USA and home to some of their top volume on premise accounts. They probably loaded their distributors to the hilt with product before making the change so as not to lose their placements in those accounts.

Smith and Cross is a good sub for Appleton IMO.

On 2014-04-12 11:07, lunavideogames wrote:
Smith and Cross is a good sub for Appleton IMO.

To me S&C is just too young to sub for A12 or Reserve IMHO. Plantation 2000 Jamaican Pot Stilled has substantially more age and spent considerable time in oak barrels, it might be a good sub IMHO.

You are right. S&C is no good in a Mai Tai, I use it in Navy Grogs, but I also like strong drinks.

Just thought I should edit this after I tried it in a Mai Tai. Not very smooth or refreshing.

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2014-04-23 17:16 ]

Since the big liquor stores are all out of Appleton 12 year I decided to scour the smaller stores this afternoon. I went to 14 stores without luck before going into Gentleman Jim's Liquors in Covington, Kentucky right across the Ohio River from Downtown Cincinnati. There I found what I believe to be the last two bottles of A12 in the Greater Cincinnati area, and bought them both of them for $29.99 each. Guess I'm going to have to make these last for a while.

On a side note, I was at our region's largest liquor store today, The Party Source, for some St Elizabeth Allspice Dram and noticed that they are almost out of V/X as well. Guess that the supply of all of the Appleton varieties is getting thin in some areas.

I don't think you can compare Smith & Cross to any of the Appleton rums (well you can compare but they aren't similar). Its pot still flavour is much stronger - the first time I tried it I said 'ooh, it's like Wray & Nephews with wood'. For me it's a rum to experiment with but I prefer the Appletons range.

A Jamaican free mai tai is quite an interesting experience, Tiare from Mountain of Crushed Ice is the queen of demerara only mai tais & inspired some of my experimentation ( http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=15929 ). Adding 1/4 or 1/2 shots of VX might provide a Jamaican flavour?

I had been wondering if Plantations Jamaican would make a good mai tai since I saw a video of Val from PKNY using it - any feedback?

Love Party Source. Whenever I take the wife & kids down to the aquarium, I drop them off for lunch & spend about an hour in Disneyland :)

On 2014-04-12 21:56, CincyTikiCraig wrote:
Since the big liquor stores are all out of Appleton 12 year I decided to scour the smaller stores this afternoon. I went to 14 stores without luck before going into Gentleman Jim's Liquors in Covington, Kentucky right across the Ohio River from Downtown Cincinnati. There I found what I believe to be the last two bottles of A12 in the Greater Cincinnati area, and bought them both of them for $29.99 each. Guess I'm going to have to make these last for a while.

On a side note, I was at our region's largest liquor store today, The Party Source, for some St Elizabeth Allspice Dram and noticed that they are almost out of V/X as well. Guess that the supply of all of the Appleton varieties is getting thin in some areas.

Sorry guys, don't mean to rub it in but living here in Orange County Ca. I went to my local Total Wine and Spirits and purchased a bottle of 12 year aged Appleton.. It's what I always drink (as well as 12yr El Dorado) and they still had 5 more bottles on the shelf.. I was spooked after reading this thread and I might have to buy another bottle soon just in case this possible shortage hits us all right between the eyes..

Are people still having shortages of Appleton 12? I checked at Total Wine and More today in So Cal and they had plenty in stock.

Plenty on the shelves in my stomping grounds.

It's not regular stock around here, so about a month ago I asked my local store to order a couple of bottles. They're not in yet, I think I'll head over there to check on that order. Not that I need an excuse to go to the liquor store....

Reserve is finally back on the shelves in central ohio. That fact, along with the facts that the lime shortage is over, it's my birthday, and a 3-day weekend means... It's mai tai time.

First toast will be to the quick return of the 12!

This has me wondering if Cruzan is similar to Appleton V/X. Does anybody have an opinion?

I use Cruzan for some "lesser" drinks where I don't want to use the Appleton, such as when I have non-appreciators or non-connoisseurs over. I think the Appleton is better than Cruzan, but Cruzan is way better than the basic Bacardi Gold/Silver.

That's the best I can offer because I have not done a side-by-side taste test, but I will. Keep piling on the assignments, these all make me very happy! ha...

Oh, and there is not any shortage of Appleton apparent to me at the moment. My local Total Wine even has 1.75 liter jugs of some of the Appleton rums in stock. Go big or go home, right?

On 2014-06-02 12:31, Const Tiki wrote:
Does anybody have an opinion?

that's opening the floodgates... heh.

I'd say cruzan dark is similar to bacardi gold, and nothing at all like appleton v/x (except in color).

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2014-06-02 14:46 ]

Once again, I seem to not have any problems with Appleton on my local liquor store selves:
Special, VX, Reserve, 12-year old in abundant supply.
I just stocked up on 2 each of Reserve and 12 year old.

An issue that happens from time to time is that my local liquor store doesn't always have a steady supply of Campari brands (including Appleton). is there a non Campari rum that is similar to Appleton?

Generally I think the Mai Tai 'formula' holds up well with many different rum pairings (or no pairings), and I like Smith & Cross in a Mai Tai. It is a strong flavor, though --- maybe you could sub a 1/2 oz S&C to a jigger of another rum to get the Jamaican effect?

When I can't get AE Extra (12 yr) I add a few drops of Coruba Dark to VX to make it "bigger." Of course, it's not the same, but it does make the VX more sip-worthy.

Here's a post regarding that from a couple or so years back.

Appleton rum out of stock? Not anymore! Look at this great deal -- it just arrived at my local Costco:

This 50-year is so expensive that they only have a PHOTO and not a real bottle on display. At this price it comes out to $169.55 per ounce before taxes, and only if you don't spill any and can get every drop of it out of the bottle.

Nevertheless, I'm adding this to my Christmas wish list. This proves once again that I'm not hard to shop for.

I like how it's 4299.99, that extra penny makes it so much easier to justify. It's not 4300, it's only 4299.99! :)

On 2016-06-26 07:05, AceExplorer wrote:
Appleton rum out of stock? Not anymore! Look at this great deal -- it just arrived at my local Costco:

This 50-year is so expensive that they only have a PHOTO and not a real bottle on display. At this price it comes out to $169.55 per ounce before taxes, and only if you don't spill any and can get every drop of it out of the bottle.

Nevertheless, I'm adding this to my Christmas wish list. This proves once again that I'm not hard to shop for.

That's actually a good price for that bottle. Most retailers have it closer to $4,500-$5,000. A 1-oz pour of it at Smuggler's Cove is $360.

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2016-06-27 07:43 ]

On 2016-06-27 07:42, JenTiki wrote:
That's actually a good price for that bottle. Most retailers have it closer to $4,500-$5,000. A 1-oz pour of it at Smuggler's Cove is $360.

That's good to hear, I'll run right out at lunch and pick up a bottle! :)

This 50-year left me wondering how little liquid is actually left in a barrel after 50 years. I'm guessing there's a point of diminishing returns somewhere in the barrel aging process. For example, if a 40-year barrel has 20% liquid left, does that liquid have enough "weight" to still age further and interact with the wood? Or is it just a matter of continuing to mellow out the longer it stays in the barrel? And I wonder how many bottles of 50-year they can get out of a single barrel, and how much they have to dilute it to reach their target ABV.

So many questions on a Monday morning.

Has anyone noticed Appleton 12 becoming harder to find? Following a big party a few weeks ago where I served friends proper Mai Tai's, three of them ended up calling me afterwards asking how they could make them at home. Mind you, these people have never made cocktails before, but they got the itch. I told 'em if you wanna do it right, it costs about 100 bucks to get all the supplies. I made a list and sent them on their way to pick up Appleton 12, El Dorado 12, Pierre Ferrand curacao, and BG Reynolds orgeat.

The first person had to go to three stores before finding Appleton 12, starting with a mom and pop shop, then a local chain (Spec's), and another local chain (Twin) who didn't even have a spot for it on the shelves but had a case in the back room. The next person went to a Total Wine and found it no problem. So I sent the third person to Total Wine. He lives on the other side of town so went to a different location and they were out. So he went to a different Spec's and they didn't have it either. He ended up having luck at a different Twin.

Then today a friend told me he was going to the Total Wine that had Appleton 12 last week so I asked him to check and see if it's still there and it wasn't. So two Total Wines and two Spec's locations in Austin don't have it. Two Twin stores, who just so happen to be the most expensive in town, do have it. Is stock running dry? Is this something to be concerned about? I've never once had trouble finding this rum around here and now it's a wild goose chase. I'm nearing the end of a bottle and hate supporting Twin so I'm a bit worried.

My local Total Whine shows it as "in stock" and available for pickup.

Strange things are happening out there... I blame aliens from planet V/X.

On 2016-08-01 09:55, AceExplorer wrote:
Strange things are happening out there... I blame aliens from planet V/X.

Don't joke about that. When my buddy inquired about the 12 year at Spec's the employee said they're replacing it with Signature Blend, aka V/X. I told him there's no way that's the case. Spec's employees are notoriously misinformed.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2016-08-01 11:09 ]

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2016-08-01 11:09 ]