Destilería Serrallés

The history of Destilería Serrallés is the history of the Serrallés family. The Serrallés family was a Spanish family from Catalonia that established its links to Puerto Rico in the mid-1830s. They were successful in harvesting and refining cane sugar and exporting it to the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The sugar cane plantation they built virtually became a company town, and eventually had its own rail line, workers' housing, transportation fleet, commissary, and private—later public—airport (Ponce's Mercedita Airport). Most of these operations were eventually annexed to the municipality of Ponce, in whose lands the plantation is based. Sugar cane molasses imported from the Dominican Republic is still transformed into rum until now at the same Serralles distilling facility that has been used for over a century.

In 1985, Serrallés, Inc., under the leadership of Felix Juan Serrallés, Sr., purchased Puerto Rico Distillers, Inc., from the Canadian liquor giant Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, LTD. The Company grew rapidly when it bought Puerto Rico Distillers in 1985. This acquisition increased the company's product line to include Palo Viejo, Ron Llave and Granado, and doubled the firm's sales. 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 third largest selling rum in the world after Tanduay and Bacardi. As a result, Serrallés, Inc., more than doubled its sales.