Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/46939
Don Q NAMED FOR ROMANTIC HERO DON QUIXOTE, THIS PUERTO RICAN RUM IS A LEGEND IN ITSELF story and photos by Brian Huff there Foundation When the patriarch of the Destilería Serrallés family, Don Sebastian Serrallés, came to Ponce, Puerto Rico in the early 1800s from Spain to found a sugar plantation, he also became the unknowing sire of Puerto Rican rum. "He came to the conclusion that nothing more was needed now but to look out for a lady to be in love with; for a knight-errant without love was like . . . a body without a soul." These words were written by 17th-century Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, distilling in poetry the essence of his literary hero and legendary dreamer, Don Quixote, for which Don Q rum is named. And they proved prophetic on this Caribbean island. For in 1865, the son of Don Sebastian Serrallés, Don Juan, mirrored the passion of Cervantes, distilling in alchemy the essence of molasses from the womb of a French copper still. Don Quixote's "lady to be in love with" was named Dulcinea del Toboso. Don Juan's was named rum. The star of the show against a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean. Rides Again are three absolutes in Puerto Rico. Rum is the national spirit. It is illegal to produce unaged rum. And on this island, which produces most of the rum consumed in the United States, Don Q is the rum of choice. november 201 1 / the tasting panel / 113