Behind the Bar: Fortaleza Tequila
In the modern spirits landscape, few bottles evoke as much immediate reverence—and relentless hunting—as Tequila Fortaleza. For agave purists, a bottle bearing the iconic hand-painted agave piña cork is the ultimate prize.
But Fortaleza isn't a hype brand born out of slick marketing. It is a historical monument to traditional, additive-free tequila tasting options that almost vanished from the industry entirely.
FORTALEZA "WINTER BLEND" EXCLUSIVE Tequila Flight ($150)
The History: Resurrecting Old-World Craft
The story of Fortaleza is deeply intertwined with the history of tequila itself. Founder Guillermo Erickson Sauza is a fifth-generation descendant of the legendary Sauza distilling family. In the late 20th century, as industrial automation, diffusers, and artificial additives began dominating mass-market tequila production to cut costs, the family’s historic distillery, Los Abuelos, sat dormant.
In 1999, Guillermo made a radical decision: reopen the family’s century-old stone distillery in the town of Tequila, Jalisco, and revive the old-world methods.
Fortaleza rejects all modern shortcuts:
Stone Brick Ovens: The mature blue Weber agaves are steam-cooked for up to 36 hours in traditional brick hornos.
The Tahona Wheel: Instead of mechanical shredders, a massive, two-ton volcanic stone wheel crushes the cooked agave to gently extract the juice without pulling bitter tannins from the fibers.
Open-Air Fermentation: The juice ferments slowly in small wood tanks using natural yeasts, developing a deep, rustic complexity.
Copper Pot Stills: Distilled directly to proof or near-proof in historic copper stills, preserving the maximum oil content and pure agave character.
The Allocation Crisis: The Hardest Pour to Find
If you have tried searching for Fortaleza online or at retail shops recently, you already know the reality: it has become practically nonexistent on standard shelves. The global demand for authentic, traditional spirits has skyrocketed, but Fortaleza refuses to automate or speed up production to keep up.
Because their process relies completely on slow, artisanal methods, production volumes remain incredibly small. When bottles hit retail shelves, they vanish within minutes, often marked up to astronomical prices on secondary markets. For bars and lounges, securing even a single case of allocations requires immense patience and deep industry relationships.
How We Offer It Here: Our Curated Fortaleza Flight
We believe rare spirits are meant to be enjoyed, not hoarded behind glass. We have built an exceptional collection of allocations to bring this legendary producer directly to our Glendale community.
FORTALEZA "WINTER BLEND" EXCLUSIVE Flight ($150)
Because our allocations of their rarest expressions are strictly limited, we want to ensure as many guests as possible get to experience them. We are proudly pouring a dedicated tasting sequence built for the ultimate agave enthusiast:
Fortaleza Blanco: Crisp, clean, and bursting with cooked agave, black pepper, and citrus.
Fortaleza Reposado: Aged in American oak, adding delicate layers of butter, vanilla, and soft baking spice.
Fortaleza Winter Blend: A highly coveted, limited annual release that masterfully blends different barrel styles and aging lengths for an incredibly complex, deep finish.
Pour Notice: To ensure everyone gets a taste of these rare allocations, the Reposado and Winter Blend are exclusively available as part of this curated flight selection. We are not offering individual neat or rock pours of these two expressions.
Experience True Agave Curation
Sit upstairs in our lounge or on our patio to navigate the flavor evolution of our exclusive flight.