Joy Spence is Appleton Estate’s first female master blender and the originator of the majority of its limited edition rum blends. Spence aspired to be a doctor and majored in chemistry in college.
She was pulled away from the medical world into spirits when she witnessed how joyful the employees of Appleton Estate seemed as they came in and out of work in her native St. Elizabeth Parish in Jamaica.
She told Essence, “People would look happy and everybody looked busy. I said, ‘You know something?’ That’s the happening place to work. Let me send my resume over there.”
Despite the fact that there were no available positions at the time, Appleton Estate developed one for her based on her extraordinary chemical expertise. Spence joined the Jamaican Rum Company as principal chemist in 1981. She had never tasted the drink before.
Since drinking rum was considered unladylike during that time, she said it was unheard of for ladies to be seen doing so. “I remember tasting, at that time, an Appleton 20-year-old in a ceramic jar with very unique packaging. And I said, ‘Let me taste this. This is the first rum I’m going to taste.’ I was just so blown away with those beautiful, complex flavors.”
Spence’s creativity blossomed after her first taste, thanks to the direction of the company’s former master blender, Owen Tulloch. She was inspired to create a variety of flavors, scents, and aging processes that helped define the flavor of many Appleton Estate favorites over the years.
When Tulloch’s 16-year tenure ended in 1997, she immediately rose to the rank of master blender. She is now the brand’s ambassador.
Though she was well suited to her new role, it wasn’t without its difficulties. She told Refinery29, “I felt I would have resistance globally, especially with male journalists — but they welcomed me with open arms. The biggest resistance was in Jamaica, actually.”
Spence claimed that her male coworkers thought a woman couldn’t be a Master Blender and that she would fail, but she climbed above their criticisms and let her achievements speak for themselves. She went on to say, “My natural creativity sets me apart.”
Despite the fact that the business is still dominated by men, the trailblazer expressed her happiness that more women are being selected as master blenders.
“I remember a very touching moment when I went to the Tales of the Cocktail [conference] in New Orleans. A beautiful African girl went down on her knees and she said, ‘Thank you so much for opening doors for other women of color!’ And believe you me, I cried,” she reminisced. “I didn’t know I had such an impact on women.”
According to the Jamaica-Gleaner, Spence will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) in 2022, making her the first Jamaican woman to do so.
Spence recently visited the Appleton Estate Extraordinary Dinner Series hosted by the James Beard Foundation (JBF) in New York City. The event also celebrated two years of collaboration between Appleton Estate and The JBF’s Women’s Leadership Program, which aims “to champion gender and racial equity by supporting women throughout the lifecycle of their careers.”
She told Essence, “For me, success means being an agent of change for women in the spirit industry. Having been the first female master blender in the world, I’ve been able to open the doors and give opportunities to other women to become master blenders in the industry. So, for me, I became an agent of change. And I’m so proud of that and proud of the fact that so many women now have been appointed master blenders.”