Fortaleza
Tequila Fortaleza's origins date back to 1873, when Don Cenobio, a true pioneer and the first exporter of "mezcal de tequila" to the USA, founded a distillery in the town of Tequila. Here, he implemented the use of steam to cook the agave, perfected the ovens, and selected the Agave Azul as the finest raw material. His son Eladio took over the company in 1909 and exported the tequila under various names, such as "Mexican brandy" and "Mexican whiskey," as well as "tequila." His son Francisco Javier succeeded him in 1946, making the family tequila the most famous in the world, also waging a battle that led to the creation of the Tequila Denomination of Origin. Don Javier then purchased land at the highest point of the town of Tequila, which he named La Fortaleza. Years later, he retired from the business, and La Fortaleza was transformed into a museum. It was his grandson, Guillermo, who took over La Fortaleza in 1999, and resumed producing tequila the same way as over a century earlier.
Grown in the Tequila region, the agaves used by Fortaleza are cooked for 36 hours in an ancient stone oven, very slowly, allowing for better caramelization of the sugars. Once cooled for 24 hours, the agaves are milled, using only a "tahona." Fermentation lasts four days and takes place in open-air wooden vats, with the help of a special yeast that has been in the family for generations. No sugars or chemicals are added. The distillation is double, in traditional copper stills that have been in place since the distillery was built. The final product has an alcohol content of 46% ABV. It is aged in used, re-chipped, and re-charred American oak barrels.
The agaves used by Fortaleza are a very sweet variety, rich in minerals. Once mature, they can be very large. On average, each plant can produce about 8 or 9 bottles of tequila. Harvesting the gigantic plants, with their sharp tips, requires a specialized harvester, called a "jimador." The "tahona" is a large, round, two-ton volcanic rock, pulled by an electric tractor that has replaced the old mule.
