Fortaleza Tequila

One of the most sought-after tequilas in the world. Family-made, additive-free and still produced the old way in the town of Tequila. Fortaleza reaches us in small allocations, so when it’s in, don’t wait.

The Family Behind Fortaleza

Fortaleza is made by Guillermo Erickson Sauza, the fifth generation of a tequila family. His great-great-grandfather, Don Cenobio Sauza, opened the family’s first distillery in Tequila in 1873. The family sold its tequila business in 1976 but kept a small distillery on the edge of town. Guillermo began bringing it back to life in 1999 and launched Fortaleza in 2005, named after that distillery.

Made the Old Way

• Slow-cooked agave: blue agave is steam-cooked in small brick ovens for around 36 hours
• Crushed by stone: a two-ton volcanic stone wheel, called a tahona, crushes the cooked agave
• Fermented in wood: the juice ferments in open wooden tanks
• Distilled in copper: twice, in small copper pot stills
• Nothing added: no colouring, sugar or flavourings, so what you taste is the agave
• Finished by hand: each bottle is hand-blown, with a hand-painted stopper shaped like an agave heart

Why It’s So Hard to Find

Every step is slow, done by hand and limited by small, old equipment, and Fortaleza won’t change the process to make more. That’s why bottles are always in short supply. We get Fortaleza in small allocations and it doesn’t hang around, so if the bottle you want is in stock, grab it. If it’s sold out, leave your email on the bottle’s page and we’ll tell you as soon as it’s back.

Which Fortaleza Should I Try?

Fortaleza Blanco is bottled unaged, so it’s the purest taste of what they do: cooked agave, citrus, butter, olive and black pepper. Great neat, and it makes a seriously good margarita.

Fortaleza Reposado is rested in American oak, which adds butterscotch and cinnamon to the cooked agave. One to sip slowly.

Not sure which is for you? Pop into the shop in Brixton Village and taste with us, or browse our full tequila range.