He was the first distiller to call the spirit produced from blue agave plant "tequila" and the first to export the drink to the United States.

That company was purchased by Fortune Brands in July 2005,[3] and then spun off with other drinks businesses as Beam Inc. in October 2011.

Aged 18 months in oak Bourbon casks - long enough to be called añejo [5] Sauza's offerings have been moderately successful at international spirit ratings competitions.

The best showing was for the brand's Hacienda Reposado tequila, which won a gold rating at the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

The Extra Gold tequila won bronze at the 2007 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and received a score of 81 from the Beverage Testing Institute in the same year.