Meet Dr. Joy Spence, the woman who rewrote the rules of rum

There is a moment when science, soil and soul come together — and for Dr. Joy Spence, it happened in a barrel warehouse in Jamaica’s Nassau Valley, amongst the scent of copper, cane, and something precocious emanating from a barrel.

“Tasting this beautiful expression with Owen over 40 years ago sparked my lifelong passion for the possibilities of aged rum,” she says, recalling the day her predecessor, the great Owen Tulloch, drew a sample from a cask which was already becoming legend.