Juan Serrallés
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Juan Serrallés (1845-1921) was the founder of what was to become "Serrallés Distillers, Inc.", producers of "Don Q", a world renowned brand of Puerto Rican rum.
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[edit] Early years
Juan Serrallés, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the son of Sabastian Serrallés, a wealthy Spaniard who settled in Ponce in the early 18th century. The elder Serrallés was the owner of "Hacienda Mercedita" and went into the sugar business. Juan Serrallés was raised in Ponce and educated in Spain. When Juan Serrallés returned to the island, he took charge of the hacienda (plantation) after his father's death. [1]
[edit] "Don Q" rum
The land in Puerto Rico was rich in sugar canes during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in 1865, Juan Serrallés 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.[2]
In 1903 the Serrallés family, under the leadership of Juan Serrallés, installed the first continuous still in Puerto Rico. Juan Serrallés, 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 Serrallés, built an enormous castle known as the "Serralles Castle" in their estate on the El Vigia hill in Ponce. The castle is now a museum which is open to the public and administered by the City of Ponce.[3]
[edit] Puerto Rican Distillers, Inc.
In 1985, Serrallés, Inc., under the leadership of Felix Juan Serrallés, Jr. 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". Serrallés 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 Serrallés, are distributed in the United States by Seagrams. Captain Morgan rum is the second largest selling rum in the world after "Bacardi". Serrallés, Inc had more than doubled its sales. [1]
[edit] Currently
Juan Serrallés great-grandson, Felix Juan Serrallés, 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 Serrallés. 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.[4] Puerto Rico has honored the memory of Juan Serrallés by naming a school in Ponce after him.
