Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/869846
CATEGORY REPORT Adding Warmth to the Season: Don Q Rum Like many categories in our sector that once seemed to have lost their way, rum has made a big comeback over Kentucky on the past several years. Consumers are more interested in the production process of the spirit and enjoy discovering quality brands that don't need to be covered up in a drink to be consumed. They look for an interesting, authentic history, and in the world of rum, they should look no further than Don Q, produced by the Serrallés family. Its lineage can be traced back to 1865, when Juan Serrallés Colón, the son of a Spaniard, started making rum at Hacienda Mercedita, his sugarcane plantation in Ponce, Puerto Rico that he named after his wife. These first barrels were distilled using a still imported from France. Almost 70 years later in 1934, the family launched the Don Q brand, which it named to signify a quest for perfection—the objective of its literary namesake Don Quixote. This rum is still made at the distillery in Ponce that the family constructed in 1935, and Serrallés USA itself is still run by the family and led by sixth- generation family member Roberto J. Serrallés. Luckily for us, his father Félix J. Serrallés, Jr. brought Don Q, the Puerto Rican favorite, back to the U.S. in 2006 after a decades-long absence. In addition to its white and gold rum and line of flavored rums, Don Q produces premium rums that change the way consumers perceive the category. Its award-winning Don Q Gran Añejo Rum (SRP $59.99) took home a Double Gold at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and rests in American white oak barrels. To ensure quality and 108 / the tasting panel / september 2017