Juan Serralles
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Juan Serralles (born c.1845-1921 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) was the founder of what was to become "Serralles Distillers, Inc.", producers of "Don Q", a world renowned brand of Puerto Rican rum.
Juan Serralles was the son of Sabastian Serralles, a wealthy Spaniard who settled in Ponce in the early 18th century. The elder Serralles was the owner of "Hacienda Mercedita" and went into the sugar business. Juan was raised in Ponce and educated in Spain. When Juan returned to the island, he took charge of the hacienda (plantation) after his father's death.
The land in Puerto Rico was rich in sugar canes during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in 1865, Juan imported a still which he purchased in France and produced his first few casks of rum. He named the rum "Don Q" in honor of the legendary Spanish fictional character Don Quixote. Soon after, the "Don Q" brand of rum became very popular in Puerto Rico and the family business began to grow.
In 1903 the Serralles family, under the leadership of Juan Serralles, installed the first continuous still in Puerto Rico. Juan Serralles, died in 1921 and the production of rum was halted because of the United States Prohibition Act of the 1920's. Juan's family continued to run the business and started to produce medical alcohol. Prohibition, however, did provide an opportunity to many families in the liquor producing business to make enormous fortunes illegally. In the 1930's Juan's son Juan Eugenio Serralles, built an enormous castle known as the "Serralles Castle" in their estate. The castle is now a museum which is open to the public and administered by the City of Ponce.
In 1985, Serralles, Inc., under the leadership of Felix Juan Serralles, Sr. purchased Puerto Rican Distillers, Inc from the Canadian liquor giant Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, LTD. The acquisitions included manufacturing facilities in Camuy and Arecibo plus the brand names sold by Seagrams locally such as: "Palo Viejo", "Ron Llave" and "Granado". Serralles also purchased the rights to produce and distribute the brands of "Ronrico" and "Captain Morgan" in Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean. These same brands, now produced by Serralles, are distributed in the United States by Seagrams. Captain Morgan rum is the second largest selling rum in the world after "Bacardi". Serralles, Inc had more than doubled its sales.
Juan Serralles great-grandson, Felix Juan Serralles, Jr. is now the president and CEO of Distilerias Serralles, Inc. which produces over 60% of the rum sold in Puerto Rico. In 1998, the annual sales of Serralles. Inc. passed over $100 million. The company has become a large industrial and marketing enterprise that produces and distributes over 80 different product lines worldwide.
Puerto Rico has honored the memory of Juan Serralles by naming a school in Ponce after him.
