Appleton Estate Signature Blend?

Aloha fine rum lovers! I was just at my local BevMo and I found a surprise in the Appleton V/X slot: Signature Blend was in it's place. New label and most surprising to me a new name for this beloved rum. I hadn't heard anything about this before. New labels happen, but a new name for a favorite rum made me do a double take. I didn't buy one, but may have if I had some V/X on hand to explore if they have changed more than the name and label. The BevMo guy said yes it's the same rum but I wonder. Some online research found new labels for this one, Reserve and 12 year. I'd be curious to know if anyone who can compare the two detect any changes. Mahalo.

I first saw this on the Floating Rum Shack website but I've not seen it on the shelf locally yet.

To quote from the Appleton Estate press release:

*"Under the new naming structure:

• Appleton Estate Signature Blend is the new name for Appleton Estate V/X
• Appleton Estate Reserve Blend is the new name for Appleton Estate Reserve
• Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old is the new name for Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old"*

Looking at the bottles, this probably isn't a surprise!

They do go on to say:

"Although the names and packaging for our three core variants have changed, the award winning liquid inside the bottle remains the same."

For me this doesn't change anything - it's a curious renaming of products that I already know & love.

I don't think a name change adds anything to a newbie although maybe it brings the markets inline across the world. A more interesting comment to that effect can be found at just-drinks.com.

I do think the previous changing of the bottles (from standard bar bottles to the current curvy bottle) would have had effect because it makes the bottle more distinctive & I think the re-packaging of the 21 year a few years ago (to a lovely bottle) was wise step - it makes it look premium.

AdOrAdam many thanks for your thoughts and the information! I guess seeing the new bottle in my store was hot off the presses so to speak. As of yesterday, the Appleton Estate website starts with a new labels photo and a "coming soon" blurb. Once entering the rest of the website, everything is still about the familiar branding as far as I could see. Actually, I like the new label designs, just have to get used to new names.

Cheers!

Paul McGee had a bottle of the rebranded V/X at his station at the Tiki Tower Takeover this past Hukilau. He confirmed to the best of his ability that no change had been made to the rum blend. I agree, the re=naming/rebranding effort seems unnecessary.

Thanks for your reply Sunny&Rummy. On a restock tour at BevMo this evening I purchased a bottle of the rebranded V/X. On the rocks and in a Mai Tai in my opinion Appleton Signature Blend is still the magic elixir we love, thank the Tiki gods for that!!(Interestingly, in the roll out transition, the large "handle" bottle still has the familiar V/X labeling, for now anyway).

Cheers!

[ Edited by: Jeffitiki 2015-07-13 17:22 ]