Fortaleza Blanco Still Strength – Review

The history of Fortaleza dates back over 140 years. Legend has it that the first distillery launched from the Sauza family was La Perseverancia back in 1873 by Don Cenobio. He was the first to shorten the name from “mezcal de tequila” to just “tequila” and the first to export tequila to the US. His son Eladio took over the family business and also founded the distillery, La Constancia.

 

Perhaps the most important descendant of the family was Francisco Javier, Eladio’s son, for helping to establish to the Denomination of Origin for tequila that says that tequila can only be made in Mexico, specifically around Tequila, Mexico. This was not officially recognized until 1996. By the time Guillermo came along, the family business had been sold by Francisco Javier.

 

Although the family business had been sold off, the family still had land and the distillery that sat on it that Francisco Javier had named Destilería La Fortaleza. Guillermo set to renovating the distillery that had been shut down since 1968 and brought back the way tequila used to be made by the family – “with a small brick oven to cook the agave, a tahona to squeeze the juices out of the agave, wood tanks for fermentation, and the 2 original copper pots for distillation”.

 

Today we are fortunate to able to taste the goodness that continues to flow out of Destilería La Fortaleza.