- Juan Serrallés
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.
Early years
Juan Serrallés, born in
Ponce, Puerto Rico , was the son of Sabastian Serrallés, a wealthySpaniard who settled in Ponce in the early 18th century. The elder Serrallés was the owner of "Hacienda Mercedita" and went into thesugar business. Juan Serrallés was raised in Ponce and educated inSpain . When Juan Serrallés returned to the island, he took charge of the hacienda (plantation ) after his father's death. [http://books.google.com/books?id=l6ex-yW0Ds8C&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=juan+serrall%C3%A9s&source=web&ots=1VqsWRx_q0&sig=ZFuvxnEesNk76-y0Ip6ciMoirhA Rum: The Epic Story Of The Drink That Conquered The World By Charles A.] ]"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 inFrance and produced his first few casks ofrum . He named the rum "Don Q" in honor of the legendary Spanish fictional characterDon Quixote . Soon after, the "Don Q" brand of rum became very popular in Puerto Rico and the family business began to grow. [ [http://jmc.ou.edu/CommCulture/Lindsey%20Chase.htm A Spitited Tradition] ]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 1920s. Juan's family continued to run the business and started to produce medicalalcohol . Prohibition, however, did provide an opportunity to many families in the liquor producing business to make enormous fortunes illegally. In the 1930s Juan's son Juan Eugenio Serrallés, built an enormouscastle known as the "Serralles Castle " in their estate on the "El Vigia" hill in Ponce. The castle is now amuseum which is open to the public and administered by the City of Ponce. [ [http://www.hiltoncaribbean.com/ponce/Area_Information.shtm Destilerria Serralles] ]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. [http://books.google.com/books?id=l6ex-yW0Ds8C&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=juan+serrall%C3%A9s&source=web&ots=1VqsWRx_q0&sig=ZFuvxnEesNk76-y0Ip6ciMoirhA Rum: The Epic Story Of The Drink That Conquered The World By Charles A.] ]Currently
Juan Serrallés great-grandson, Felix Juan Serrallés, Jr. is now the president and
CEO ofDistilerias 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. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-169412739.html Felix Juan Serrallés, Jr.] ] Puerto Rico has honored the memory of Juan Serrallés by naming a school in Ponce after him.ee also
*
List of famous Puerto Ricans
*Serralles Castle References
External links
* [http://www.donq.com/ Serralles]
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