Discover Don Q’s New Premium Cask-Finished Rums

Don Q continues to build on its already impressive range of premium rums. The Puerto Rican rum brand added two new bottles to its lineup as part of its continuing collection: one finished in port casks and the other in wine barrels.

At Destilería Serrallés Inc., the distillery behind Don Q Rum, Maestra Ronera Silvia Santiago and master blender Liza Cordero are the women behind the spirits, responsible for selecting and blending the single and multiple-column distilled rums for the new double-aged expressions. Santiago has been with the distillery for half a century and is Puerto Rico’s first female master blender.

Aging in Port and Zinfandel casks gives these rums very complex smells and tastes, which makes them perfect for spirit-forward cocktails. The Port Cask Finish was aged in American white oak barrels for five to eight years and then finished for over three years in European Old Tawny Port wine casks. That lengthy secondary maturation is where the “double aged” in the name comes from, as it is much longer than the usual finishing period. Official tasting notes describe some astringency on the palate, with complex, dry fruit notes and a touch of sweetness.

On the other hand, the Zinfandel Cask Finish followed a similar maturation trajectory. It is aged in American oak for five to eight years before being transferred to Zinfandel wine casks from California for another three years. It has citrus and dry wood notes, with some spice on the finish.

The brand’s goal with the double-aged cask-finished rums is to make elegant expressions that show off Don Q’s nearly 160 years of innovation in making rum. At present, Don Q is the best-selling brand in Puerto Rico and is highly regarded in the international market. A report from the market research company IRI showed that, in the 12 months to December 2022, Don Q was among the top three best-selling brands with a market value of USD 27,392,500.

According to the brand, these new spirits are the best examples of how the team crafts unique blends and rums that appeal to both the rum novice and the aficionado. Both rums are available in limited quantities at online retailers and stores around the island.

During the week of Puerto Rico’s National Rum Festival, Bryan Inman (The Rum Champion), Federico Hernandez (The Rum Lab), and Shane Conrad (Jet Set Conrad) had the opportunity to visit Destilería Serrallés to see firsthand how the rums are made. “We had the opportunity to see the famous Warehouse #20 at Destileria Serrallés, where most of the premium rums are aged. Tasting some of their expressions directly from the cask was simply mouth watering.” Inman said.

Some Fun Facts About Don Q

• Don Q is a multigenerational family rum brand. Destilería Serrallés has produced the label since 1865, making it the oldest operating distillery in Puerto Rico. Don Juan Serrallés purchased a copper still from France and began producing spirits.
• Don Q’s ancestors were Spanish. The Serrallés family emigrated from Spain to Puerto Rico in the 1820s, when they began growing sugarcane outside of Ponce, P.R. The operation quickly grew, and the family soon exported sugar to the U.S., the U.K., and France.
• In 2006, Don Q became available in the contiguous U.S. Since then, it has been gaining momentum among premium rum drinkers.
• The brand’s current flavor roster pays homage to its Caribbean roots. The catalog includes coconut, lime, passion fruit, pineapple, and mojito. No added sugars are used, and the natural flavors are kept as Puerto Rican as possible.
• Don Q is environmentally responsible. They have built a wastewater reclamation plant, cleaning up that wastewater into irrigation-grade water.
• An area of the business that “keeps the lights on,” according to Serallés, is bulk rum, meaning unlabeled rum sold off to other rum brands. This bulk rum is the only unaged rum the distillery produces. Including bulk rum and Don Q, Destilería Serrallés is the largest exporter of rum to the U.S.
• Don Q is both traditional and unconventional. Don Q ages in twice-used whiskey barrels to perfectly complement the rum’s sweetness rather than adding excessively oaky flavors.