Intoxicating tour of Appleton Estate

It has been said in some religious circles that when the great Creator finished creating this beautiful island paradise, He remarked: "This is my beloved island in whose beauty and bounty I am well pleased."

If God is pleased with this beautiful island, who are we mere mortals to be constantly bleating and griping over its perceived imperfections?

Some sage once said, there is nothing wrong with this country that what is right about this country cannot fix or overcome. And that, my dears, is the unvarnished gospel.

Dears, Jamaica, since its 'discovery' has proven itself a land truly blessed with natural beauty and resources. Not only has this land been blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, but over the years it has served as the perfect melting pot for all races and people of this world who have decided to make Jamaica their home.

Dears, we are truly a land and people fashioned out of many. And one of the many ingredients going into fashioning our evolving, unique and distinct identity and culture is the heritage bequeathed to us from our history of the Spanish and British slave eras, as well as our colonial and post-colonial legacies and the culinary heritage born out of these periods.

While sugar and slavery are historically been intertwined, let us not now throw out the baby with the bath water, as sugar and its many derivatives, having given strength and birth to many inhuman and dehumanising conditions during slavery, are now uniquely placed to make 'reparations' through industry and value!

One such element of great value is the Appleton Estate Tour.

Dears, known and celebrated in tourism circles, this excursion and richly rewarding tour is sadly not necessarily on the radar of Jamaica and Jamaicans seeking to acquaint themselves with our country and its very rich heritage. And the country and we the people are the poorer for this.

Well, last Saturday, the Appleton Estate Rum 'ambassador', the very charming Judith Douglas, invited a shortlist of guests to join her for the much-touted Appleton Estate Rum Tour, and dears, what a gem of an excursion it proved.

To begin with, guests were invited to arrive at the Spanish Town Road headquarters of J. Wray & Nephew, before 8 a.m., for a luxury coach ride, from Kingston, to the Appleton Estates, over in Cockpit Country, St Elizabeth.

Dears, for the most part, guests were on time, and so the much-anticipated tour got under way shortly after eight.

Well, for many who are quite accustomed to traversing this here beautiful land by SUVs and/or other types of motor vehicles, nothing beats travelling in an air-conditioned luxury coach, sans the care of monitoring and manoeuvring through traffic. And with this being an expected two-hour-plus ride, the chauffeured luxury coach was just what the doctor ordered, as this afforded guests better views of the lay of the land, to and fro, and dears, it made for a far greater level of appreciation. Guests were treated to a far better view of Kingston, St Catherine, Clarendon and St Elizabeth from their perch.

Ample testimony

It has often been said that time does fly when one is having fun, and the excursion provided ample testimony to this old assertion.

Dears, we are talking a charmer here. Guests were treated to a scrumptious Jamaican breakfast, upon arrival before being invited to join a number of able, informed and quite affable guides on a tour of the estate. The tour included a detailed history of production of rum and sugar over the years, as well as an introduction to the current operational framework guiding these processes today.

Now, the beauty of this tour is the intimate knowledge shared by the guides, as indeed, this operation, spans not just contemporary existence but history; the creation of one of our first locally grown industry; and the evolution and advance of the technology of the day, sufficient to the task of manufacturing sugar, rum and other by-products.

Dears, the history and its bearing on our present quest for economic independence; the scar-tissues; the evolution; and the still yet to be fully exploited commercial derivatives from the sugar and rum industries, and their continuing contribution to the national wealth, whether through rum and/or sugar exports; the hundreds of tourists who flock to the factory daily for the tour; and the possibilities for expansion, were all on display last Saturday, making liars of those who sit on their verandas predicting the immediate demise of this here land of beauty.

Possibilities were made clear in the seminar conducted by Douglas in one of its old and dilapidated-looking, but quite serviceable and functional, air-conditioned 'barns'.

Now dears, not only was the hour-long seminar a fabulous lesson, it proved very interactive, and fabulously so, with the best part being the fact that guests participating in the event were presented with certificates of participation, denoting them Honorary 'Ambassadors', of Appleton Estate Rum.

With the seminar completed, guests were invited to share in a scrumptious brunch, and luvs, we are talking finger-licking fab, as this was a mouth-watering combo of the cosmopolitan and Jamaican - with apple dollops of the preferred Jamaican Rum - Appleton Estate, on offer.

Dears, the world's first female masterblender, Appleton's lovely Joy Spence, was in the house with Campari executive Doug Knopf - adding star quality to what was already a galaxy of social stars. Among those out enjoying the tour were Russian Ambassador Vladimir Polenov; Spanish Ambassador Celsa Nuño and her husband Alex Crowther; Brazilian Ambassador Antonio De Silva and his beautiful wife, Sylvia Ruschel de Leoni Ramos. Also there were head of the consular affairs of the Russian Embassy, Andrey Dryakin; United States Consul General in Montreal, Canada, the affable Andrew Parker, and his fab wife, Sheryn Hylton-Parker; Dr Carol Ball-Thompson; the charming Shirley Headley; the lovely Pat Garell; Herbie Miller and companion, the lovely Melaine White; the very charming Dian Watson; management consultant Carl Bliss and the fab Dawn Fuller-Phillips. The très élégante Karen Neita; her sibling the fab Michelle Neita; as was bon vivant Nevardo Pow; the simply gorgeous Mrs Novlet Green-Deans, the oh so engaging president of the Rotary Club of Liguanea Plains; Patrick Pitter; the charmingly lovely Pauline Edie; the dapper Dennis Lee; Miguel Bernard and the lovely Nikesha Channer. The fabulous Kayla Lumsden; and Anthony Smith and the lovely Twana Douglas; plus a number of others.

Dears, the return trip to the city of Kingston was even more fun as Appleton brands flowed freely and guests not having to worry about traffic, it made for a beautiful ride, accented by great expectations for Destination Jamaica, Brand Jamaica, and the future of this great land!

Appleton Rum is one Jamaican product over which we can be proud. This home-grown product is an international leader in its class. The same can be said of Digicel, and in this respect, in the'2012 Who's hot! Who's not!' article published in the Outlook: The Sunday Gleaner January 13, the comment"all protocols were not observed, hence his departure", was made about Mark Linehan, former CEO of Digicel. We are not suggesting that Mr Linehan's departure from that company was a result of any inappropriateness or misdeeds. We apologise if the comment may have conveyed that message.