Fortaleza Tequila Reposado

Smooth taste.. full body for a Reposado

Fortaleza is such a well crafted and respected brand, I can't believe that it's taken me so long to review this one. I've had this bottle for a while and I know that things change from lot to lot, but the one currently in my glass is Lot #11. I believe the one currently available as of the time of this post is Lots 16 and 17. Let's just dive right in...

Price: $55-60/bottle

Aroma: A pleasant nose of agave and light honey/vanilla.

Initial Taste: A really nice and interesting sweetness. There's a good agave flavor mixed with a vanilla bean essence. Very interesting and tasty.

Body: A fairly thin body that lacks the complexity that I might expect. The mix of the initial taste is there, but the body is a bit thin and the oak and spice aren't there as much as I might expect.

Finish: The wood becomes more prominent in this medium length linger with some spice and anise. It's a medium-short finish that goes down very easily...almost too much so.

Fortaleza is just a flat out quality brand. One thing that makes me like it so much is that is generally has a unique profile and produces flavors that you don't often find balanced as well in other juices. I'm in love with the vanilla bean flavor of this one at the start and while the later aspects are not as good as the start, this is a really quality tequila.

Kudos for the presentation on this bottle. It is quite nice with the drawing of the stone mill and agave piña bottle stopper. It's eye catching and appealing. The tequila inside is nice but not fabulous. At first wiff the aroma is promising, with rich buttery notes followed by some herby underpinnings. The taste has nice bite and spiciness along with some pleasant hints of smoke and a good bit of sweetness. But the body and mouth feel are both too light for my personal taste in a reposado. My biggest objection to this tequila is the bitter finish. I loved the aroma, liked the initial flavor profile but then I got the hit of bitter on the back of the palate for which I did not care. This is a nice after work tequila and it's lightness makes it suitable for summer sipping.

Love the label, classic old tequila manufacturing scene and carved stopper. Rich buttery vanilla icing aroma with lots of herbal character underneath. Fairly light in body but silky. Lime zest flavors with a bitter herbal finish. Noticeable spicy/bitter wood tannins take over. Unique and smooth but the finish isn't my favorite.

I really enjoyed this one. The butter and floral aromas really came through for me. This tequila really stands out as "authentic".
I thought the bottle was lovely and really like the "Pina" cork topper.
One of my new favourites, to be sure.