Tequila Fortaleza

Tequila Fortaleza began production in 2005. We may be a relatively young company - but have over 140 years of history behind our brand.

Our great-great-grandfather Don Cenobio founded his first distillery - La Perseverancia - in Tequila, Jalisco in 1873.

Don Cenobio was not only the first person to export "Mezcal de Tequila" to the U.S., shortening the name to just Tequila and introducing the use of steam to cook the agave (instead of an earthen pit). It was also he who determined that blue agave was the best agave for tequila production.

What follows is a success story closely linked to the evolution of tequila itself. A few generations later, Don Cenobio's grandson, who incidentally ensured that tequila was a protected beverage that could only be produced in Mexico, bought a piece of land on the highest point of the city - and built a small distillery there, which he christened La Fortaleza. Until the 1960s, the family produced tequila there in small batches, using a wood-burning stove and two small copper kettles. But because production was not profitable, La Fortaleza was soon turned into a museum.

It wasn't until 2005, after years of loving renovations and hard work, that great-great-grandson Don Cenobios reopened the doors of the Fortaleza distillery - and has been making tequila according to the old family recipe ever since.