Fortaleza Los Abuelos Still Strength 750ml

Fortaleza Los Abuelos Still Strength is a Blanco Tequila from Destileria La Fortaleza in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. This Mexico-market expression carries the family's original Los Abuelos labeling and is bottled straight off the still without a water cut at 92 proof, additive-free.

In Mexico the distillery's tequila is bottled under the Los Abuelos label - "the grandfathers" - the family's original brand name honoring Don Cenobio Sauza and the four generations that followed. Because the Los Abuelos trademark was already held by a separate rum brand in the United States, the family's US and international allocations are sold as Fortaleza ("fortitude"). Every other detail of production is the same as the export bottling: 100 percent estate Blue Weber agave from the Sauza family's hillside ranches, brick-oven slow cooking, tahona stone-wheel extraction, open-air wooden vat fermentation, and double distillation in small copper pot stills at NOM 1493 in the town of Tequila. The hand-blown bottle is made in Mexico.

On the nose, it shows baked ripe agave layered with green olive, citrus, fresh herb, and earth. The palate brings concentrated cooked agave, black pepper, vegetal depth, butter, and mineral notes, and the finish carries a long, oily, savory close.

For years, the only way to taste this expression was to visit the distillery in person - the spirit Don Cenobio Sauza's descendants drank straight off the pot still in the 1800s. It drinks well neat or over a single large cube.

• Size: 750ml
• Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
• Origin: Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
• Distillery: Destileria La Fortaleza (NOM 1493)