Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest premium Cuban rum (no prizes for guessing what the first is) founded 1862 in the oldest city of Cuba, which is also called Santiago De Cuba. Presumably, that’s where the name comes from.
In the 1959 revolution, Cuba’s rum industry was nationalised and Santiago de Cuba rums began to be made by the state at the former Matusalem distillery in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra region from sugarcane molasses. Its standard expressions include a Carta Blanca and an Añejo bottling, but Santiago de Cuba also has a habit of making some exceptional Extra Añejos.