Tanduay has over a hundred years of history. It all began in 1854 when Don Joaquin Elizalde, together with his uncle, Juan Bautista Yrissary, and the Manila-based Spanish businessman and financier Joaquin Ynchausti established a trading partnership, which acquired the Manila Steamship Company. This alliance was named the Ynchausti Y Cia. Their main line of business was ship chandlery and later on ventured into abaca making. The steamships they owned plied the Laguna Lake to Manila route. Later, Valentin Teus, a cousin of the Elizaldes, joined the partnership. Teus acquired a distillery in Hagonoy, Bulacan from Elias Menchatorre and merged it with Ynchausti Y Cia. Six years later, a rectifying plant of this distillery was constructed in San Miguel District, Manila. This small distillery was transformed by four successive generations of the Elizaldes into the modern Tanduay Distillery, considered one of the largest in the Philippines.