Casa Don Q

This place is no longer open. It was closed March 31, 2014. We were looking forward to seeing the history of the Don Q since my husband enjoys the drinks.

Casa Don Q wasn’t quite what I expected. We got there at 10 am on a weekday and we were the only people in the place. For better or for worse, I expected a high energy «brand ambassador» type of person to offer us samples, give us a sales pitch, and push some product. Instead, there was a quiet guy at the bar who looked like he couldn’t wait to get home for a nap, even though the day had only just started. He offered to make a drink of our choice, but had nothing else to say. I’d have preferred samples of each of the three main rums, but I can’t argue with a free drink. Other than the free drink, there’s some history and artifacts, but nothing particularly interesting. Don’t bother buying rum here. It’s cheaper in convenience stores or in Duty Free. I can even get the Cristal and the Gold back home for about the same price or cheaper.

I stayed at the Sheraton next door for 7 days and only once did I go in the DonQ shop. The condensed history of Don Q is nicely laid out. You get a free complimentary drink inside the bar.

The Casa Don Q room is a really good place for a short visit, short as in it’s not too big to while away your entire afternoon. To see and read about the history of the Don Q rum will take about 30 minutes or so, including a free rum beverage. Delicious rum. The room is well-​appointed and very nice. I think it could use a bigger or more distinctive sign out front, as it doesn’t appear to be a public tasting room unless one peers in and looks around. Well worth your time, though; go take a look!

Small museum but nice to see for free. Drinks are one per person. The prices for alcohol to take home is pricey for some items. Compare and check out CVS or a grocery store.

Not your typical tour. If you’re expecting to see the still and the liquor being made here, you’re mistaken. Most people stop in here for the free drink.
I’ll be honest, we did too. I really ended up liking Don Q! We bought a bottle of the darker rum and the white rum to take back home with us. To our chagrin it ended up being cheaper at the duty free store at the airport. So, not only did we lug around the bottles for the duration of our visit to Old San Juan we realized we could have got it cheaper at the airport.
Still a great stop and we got to try before we bought.

This is a simple promotional display for Don Q rum, with some historical panels and old photos, but mostly lots of bottles of different varieties of rum… finishing with a small sample drink. I tried their mojito-​flavored rum on the rocks. Impressive mint/​lime flavor, and I ended up getting a few bottles at the airport at very reasonable prices.
Just an educational vignette… a mainland father was showing his sons two statues at the entrance, saying «There is Don Quix-​ot and his buddy, Pancho or something like that.» So t is not just free booze.

Great stop for a free drink!
The tour is all of one room, but the location is close to Old San Juan so this is a great place to drop by for some A/​C, pina coladas, and souvenirs (if your friends are into that).

Free drinks. Do I need to write anything more?
Stop in for a free drink of your choice and check out how rum is made and a little of the history of Don Q.

Free entrance, free drink! Mixed or piña colada! No pressure to buy anything, little bit of history. What’s not to love!

We stumbled upon Casa Don Q as we were dodging the rain. We were so excited to have walked into this really informative ‘museum like’ setting, rum tasting (1 complimentary drink) bar, & shop. A small but classy spot, we were formally introduced to the amazing flavors of DonQ rum! Our favorite concoction: DQ coco & pineapple! By the time we enjoyed our small tasting & educated ourselves on the DonQ Rum factory & rum making process, the rain passed.
This by no means is a big establishment, but a quick 30 min stop is adequate.
Stop in… it’s refreshing & absolutely part of the local puerto rican flare!
(after, we walked across to Tijuanas for more DonQ drinks & snacks!
Location: in Old San Juan across the street from the docks & Tijuanas Restaurant & next to the San Juan Visitor Center.

The address here is wrong — but it is easy to find by the cruise piers. Just a nice small stop with a few exhibits and then you get free samples of the rum. Pretty good investment of five minutes of our time. I loved the mojito flavor so I made sure to get some at the duty free shop in the airport, where it is cheaper than here. That flavor is a mix so its 40 proof instead of 80, but really good and pretty dangerous because you could get drunk off that really quickly!

The Don Q museum is located right across the pier. If you don’t have time to visit the Bacardi Rum factory you can drop by to know about the origins of rum, the rum making process and sample a free rum drink.
They seem to have guided tours, but we didn’t see any tour guide on the day we went. We walked in, looked at the posters/​videos, tried the complimentary rum drink and walked out. There’s a small gift shop inside the building, but it’s pricey. You’re better off buying some rum at the duty free shop inside the airport.

This small building is located next to the ports in Old San Juan. Not taking into account, Don Q doesn’t anything on Bacardi as far as what they have to offer (Bacardi has guided tour, bar, gift shop, large estate, etc), but then again, this isn’t Don Q’s distillery (which is actually located in Ponce).
Casa Don Q is a small building with a small bar for sampling the Rum, a few informative posters about Don Q and it’s origins, and a few television screens displaying old brand commercials. They have small displays with their rums for sale at a decent price (though, as Cristina N stated, wait until the airport where it is cheaper still).
It’s still a nice stop if you’ve been walking around Old San Juan all day. Can’t ever beat free drinks at their bar :)

Neat little place next to the Puerto Rican Tourism office.
You can try all kinds of Don Q rum which is arguably smoother and better tasting than Bacaradi. There’s no guided tour but just some screens and wall displays explaining the history of the brand (a Spaniard transplant).
It was a nice refreshing break after walking around Old San Juan but if you want really great prices on bottles of Don Q rum just wait until you hit up the airport for the duty free area. The rum is at least $ 4 cheaper than it is at Casa Don Q or other venues.
The Don Q Mojito flavor is just phenomenal and really does taste like a fresh mojito. I ended up buying two bottles (2 for $ 24 at the time of this writing) at the airport!

The listed address can’t be right. The mere mention of it put my gps in a fit of epic proportions. For as many times as I came here, it’s a shame that I could never check in. Someone who works for Unilocal should really fix this…
I decided to get my free rum on at Don Q rather than Bacardi. After I was schooled in what locals prefer, I didn’t have a choice but, I must admit, I was pretty bummed to not be heading out to Casa Bacardi. Rachael Ray has taunted me for years about it. All she had to do to get two GIANT-​sized rum drAnks was walk around, be obnoxious and cackle. I can do all those things — well! Pauvre moi. So, in my effort to keep it real at all times, I skipped out on the castle and settled in to get a drAnk on at Casa Don Q.
I showed up almost as soon as it opened. Yes, I was the only person in the casa. Yes, I was ready to get a free rum drAnk on at early o’clock. Yes, I didn’t give a damn. The Casa isn’t so much a ‘casa’ as it is a ‘room-​a.’ Here’s the skinny: walk through the front doors, survey the walls with info about Don Q (the rum and Don Quixote), pretend to look at some other stuff, ask for a drink. It should take all of ten minutes if you’re being charitable and classy (three if you’re being klassy). Turns out being first has its perks. There was only one bartender (subsequent — yeah, I said subsequent — visits revealed two ‘tenders*) and he wasn’t in the mood to be there or talk. And I wasn’t in the mood to leave sober. Yadda yadda yadda… When I fully realized where I was, I was on a ferry.
*Who will dole out one (or two) small concoctions. Don Q may be the local rum, but head over to Casa B for some good ol’ fashioned Amurrcanized super sizings.

Fantastic little «museum» that shows the history of Don Q.
Note to tourists: If you poll Puerto Rican people like I did and ask what kind of rum they drink you will find that most of them drink Don Q over Bacardi. Casa Don Q is not a guided tour like Casa Bacardi is and is ten times smaller but still worth stopping in.
You can read about the history of the company, purchase bottles of Don Q to take home and have a bartender mix you up a Don Q drink of your choice. You cannot buy the flavored Don Q rum in the US so you should pick up a bottle while here. Definitely worth stopping in.

Rum = Caribe
There are two «Rum Houses» to visit in PR. Don Q is one of them.
It’s not big, there’s no tour, but they do give samples. :p
You go in and are greeted by Don Quijote & Sancho Panza. To learn about Don Q you just need read the different plaques they have with their history and flavors.
My favorite part, other than the tasting, was the Rum filled wall with all their different flavors. Tried the regular white rum, the Passion flavored one, and, the one that made its way home with me, Don Q Mojito.
Employees are friendly, samples are generous, and it’s right in Old San Juan. I say start there and then walk your way up.

Casa Don Q is a must see if you are in Old San Juan. The museum is free of charge and right across from Pier 2, no ferry or taxi ride required. You can head straight to the bar for complementary drinks (I really enjoyed the piña colada with an extra shot of coco rum on top) and then view the displays at your own pace to learn the history of Don Q.
The bartender was friendly and my boyfriend and I got 6 free drinks (can’t get any better than that), we sampled the Añejo on the rocks, Piña Colada, Mojito, and Don Q Dulcinea, all which were generously proportioned and quite tasty. I recommend Casa Don Q to everyone who enjoys rum and tropical drinks!

The Casa Don Q museum isn’t really a museum.
It’s basically a room that has some dolls and pictures on display that shows the process of distillation. Kinda cool, but you have to read everything (which there isn’t much of) and it’s nothing like the thorough Bacardi factory tour.
Don Q, however, is a very respected rum in Puerto Rico. So why not go here– it’s free, and you get a free drink at the end! The «museum» may be a «meh» 2 stars, but the drink was very well made and so tasty I got the recipe from the bartender. (He said to go to
for more yummy concoction ideas)
He made our pina coladas and some other pineapple drink very strong and we felt like we got our. time’s worth. The «museum» only takes a max of 8 minutes. Enjoying the drinks and picking out souvenirs is probably another 10 – 15 minutes.
This is a great place to go especially if you don’t have time to go to the Bacardi factory tour, which can take up a very good chunk of the day.