Wed | Oct 15, 2025

Appleton Estate, Chef Shea Stewart wow Porti palates

Published:Thursday | April 24, 2025 | 12:09 AM
Flame-broiled lamb chops and rum-infused bread pudding.
Flame-broiled lamb chops and rum-infused bread pudding.
Deputy Master Blender David Morrison guides guests through the experience.
Deputy Master Blender David Morrison guides guests through the experience.
Appleton Estate’s mai tai.
Appleton Estate’s mai tai.
The yam and cheese croquettes.
The yam and cheese croquettes.
Chef Shea Stewart speaks about the rum and food pairings.
Chef Shea Stewart speaks about the rum and food pairings.
Jamaican-style curried goat patties and yam and cheese croquettes.
Jamaican-style curried goat patties and yam and cheese croquettes.
The Appleton Estate rum punch.
The Appleton Estate rum punch.
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Camp Porti got an extra splash of smoothness last weekend as the Appleton Estate Reserve Experience poured out pure Jamaican elegance inside the historic Trident Castle on Saturday. Festivalgoers in Portland were treated to a rum journey like no other – sipping, swirling, and savouring the rich, golden notes of Appleton’s finest.

Between tastings from the creative hands of Chef Shea Stewart, mixology magic with deputy master blender David Morrison, and a vibe that oozed island sophistication, the Appleton Estate Reserve Experience added just the right amount of luxury to the Camp Porti weekend.

To share the rum, rhythm, and real spirit of Jamaica, tray-passed bites were served with jerk chicken skewers with a dark rum glaze, yam and cheese croquettes with a rum barbeque glaze, coconut-braised oxtail sliders with a rum-infused brioche, pimento-smoked duck breast with a spiced rum glaze, Jamaican curried goat patties with rum-infused pepper jelly and rum-soaked raisin bread pudding with crème, which were created by Stewart.

During an interview, Stewart told Food that he was happy to be in the mix because rum and food pairings need a chef to be truly successful.

“I was tasked to basically complement the complexity of Appleton and their rums. We did between the eight-year-old rum as well as the 12-year-old rum. What we did were things like a yam and cheese croquette, and we paired that with an eight-year-old rum barbecue sauce. We did lamb chops, which were free-flame broiled. And our 12-year-old rum actually has a lot of citrus notes, a lot of pimento, a lot of nutmeg kind of flavours, so that lent well to the lamb, the barbecue, the flame, the fire, the smokiness of the lamb,” Stewart said.

“We also did a pork tenderloin with our rum sauce as well. I think today, the crowd favourite was a bread pudding, which was paired with a drink kinda like a rum cream made with the eight- [and] the 12-year-old rum. You know, our bread pudding was soaked. The raisins were soaked in the 12-year-old rum. We made a chocolate custard with the 12-year-old rum,” he said.

Stewart also created a brown butter with the Appleton Estate 12 year old rum, where he incorporated flavours from the rum to show patrons how to make “a rumtastic bread pudding”.

“And, they said the bread pudding was the crowd favourite, and I realised the 12-year-old played a vital part in it,” he said.

Stewart also noted that he uses the Appleton Estate 12 year old rum, out of all the other rums, “because it has so much complexity”.

“It pairs well with chocolate. It pairs well with vanilla. It pairs well with oranges. It pairs well with the butter, the smokiness and the nuttiness of the butter [after] I had browned the butter. So it has the complexity to match the richness of the bread pudding that I did,” he said.

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com