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| Founded | 1765; 260 years ago (1765) |
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| Founder | Richard Hennessy |
| Headquarters | Cognac,France |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Laurent Boillot, Chairman & CEO; Boris de Vroomen, International Director |
| Products | Cognac |
| Revenue |  €2.12 billion (2022) |
| Owner | LVMH (66%) Diageo (34%) |
| Website | Hennessy.com |
Jas Hennessy & Cie., commonly known simply asHennessy (French pronunciation:[ɛnɛsi]), is a French producer ofcognac, which has itsheadquarters inCognac, France.
It is one of the best-known cognac houses,[1] along withMartell,Courvoisier, andRémy Martin, who together make around 45% of the world's cognac.[2] Hennessy sells approximately 102 million bottles of its cognacs per year,[3] making it the world's largest cognac producer, and in 2017 its sales represented around 60% of the US cognac market.[4] As well as distilling cognaceaux-de-vie itself, the company also acts as anégociant.[5]
The brand is owned byMoët Hennessy since a champagne & cognac merger in the early seventies, which is in turn owned byLVMH (66%) andDiageo (34%), with Diageo acting as a controlling shareholder.[6] Hennessy pioneered several industry-standard practices in the world of cognac, and its association with luxury has made it a regular point of reference in popular culture, especially inhip hop.
The Hennessy cognacdistillery was founded byIrishJacobite military officerRichard Hennessy in 1765, who had served in the army ofLouis XV.[7][8] The Hennessy family's seat was Killavullen near Mallow, and was closely related in County Cork to the Nagle, Burke and Roche families. He retired to theCognac region, and began distilling and exporting brandies, first to Britain and his native Ireland, closely followed by the United States.[8] In 1813 Richard Hennessy's son James Hennessy gave the company its trading name, Jas Hennessy & Co.[9] He was also responsible for choosing Jean Fillioux as the house's Master Blender. A member of the Fillioux family has occupied the role ever since, a business relationship that has lasted eight generations and more than 250 years.[10]
Hennessy became the world's leading exporter of brandy in the 1840s, a status it has never lost.[5] By 1860, it represented one out of every four bottles of cognac sold internationally.[11] Hennessy also instituted several of the conventions now used across the cognac industry. It was one of the first marques to sell bottles rather than casks of cognac, a process that helped it survive theGreat French Wine Blight in the mid-nineteenth century.[5] It was also the first cognac house to use star ratings, and the gradingsV.S.O.P. andXO, which are today used by most other cognac producers.
The V.S.O.P. designation was first applied in 1817, when the Prince Regent (laterKing George IV) of Britain asked Hennessy to create a "very superior old pale" cognac, a description that had previously been applied to sherries.[5] Maurice Hennessy, the grandson of Richard Hennessy, then introduced a star-based classification of cognac qualities in 1865 (a system simultaneously adopted by Hennessy's competitorMartell), which remained the industry standard of cognac age designation until the 1960s.[5] Maurice Hennessy also created theXO ("extra old") designation in 1870, for cognacs which had undergone prolongedcask maturation.[5]
A branch of the Hennessy family moved from France to England in the early 1900s. It established itself in the Army and in English politics, eventually earning the title of Baron Windlesham. Although family ties are alive, the English branch is no longer involved in the cognac business.
In 1944Kilian Hennessy, a fifth-generation direct descendant of Richard Hennessy, began assisting his cousin Maurice Hennessy in running the business.[12] Kilian Hennessy had intended to be a banker, but instead went on to position Hennessy as an international brand, travelling to Ireland, the United States and Asia to promote the brand.[12] He first visited China in 1946, and the nation has since become the world's second-largest cognac market.[13] In 1947, Hennessy's business relationship withMartell also came to a close, after the death of Maurice Firino-Martell.[14]
Hennessy has also become a key part of major luxuryconglomerates. In 1971 Kilian Hennessy spearheaded the company's merger withMoët et Chandon, to createMoët Hennessy which eventually went public and thrived financially.[15] Moët Hennessy then announced a merger withLouis Vuitton, which already owned champagne brands, in 1987,[16] creating the world's largestluxury brandconglomerate,Louis Vuitton • Moët-Hennessy orLVMH.
In 1988, a management crisis led to the group's takeover byBernard Arnault, owner of thehaute couture houseChristian Dior, with the support of theGuinness brewery group.[17] The so-called "LVMH affair" was so controversial in France that French PresidentFrançois Mitterrand referenced it in a televised address.[17]
Kilian Hennessy remained on the company'sadvisory board until his death in 2010 at the age of 103.[15] An eighth generation representative of the Hennessy dynasty, Maurice-Richard Hennessy, acts as one of the brand's global ambassadors. He had originally trained as a farmer before entering the family business.[18]
From 2018 onward, Hennessy experienced production shortages caused in part by increased demand, bottle shortages, and frosts.[19]
Hennessy holds the largest collection of cognaceaux-de-vie in the world, with more than 470,000 casks in its cellars.[3] Through a process of blending and maturation of varying lengths, it makes several distinct gradings of cognac. As well as its V.S and V.S.O.P. gradings, which make up the majority of its sales, Hennessy is known for expensive specialist cognacs, some of which are still blended by the Fillioux family.[5]
Limited editions of Hennessy can contain more than one hundred differenteaux-de-vie, some of which can be centuries old; they are traditionally accompanied with luxurious trimmings such as custom-made boxes and hand-blown carafes.[20] A bottle of Richard Hennessy, for example, is priced at around USD$7,000, and comes in aBaccarat crystal decanter with matching glasses, a fusil, and a tray, all designed by the architectDaniel Libeskind.[21]
Since 2009, Hennessy has released a number of collectible editions to mark anniversaries, special occasions, or collaborations with artists, designers and organisations, such as theNBA.[22] It has collaborated withZhang Enli,Les Twins,Refik Anadol,Kaws andMarc Newson among others.
Hennessy is also used as an ingredient incocktails and mixed drinks, and is commonly served in nightclubs and bars.[14] The company has launched a number of new products aimed at this on-premises market, including Pure White, Hennessy Black[23] and Fine de Cognac, and promoted them accordingly.[24] The rapperNas has acted as a brand ambassador for the brand.[25]
Hennessy has a substantial consumer base amongAfrican Americans, who drink the majority of the cognac consumed in the United States.[26] Accordingly, the brand has also marketed itself with initiatives around black entrepreneurship andBlack History Month.[4]
| Collector bottle | Year released | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hennessy VS "44" | 2009 | Honor of 44th presidentBarack Obama | |
| Hennessy VS "NUL" | 2010 | National Urban League | |
| Hennessy VS "BOA" | 2010 | Blending of Art (five different bottles with two designers per) | |
| Hennessy VS "KAWS" | 2011 | New York graffiti artist KAWS design | |
| Hennessy VS x Luminous | 2013 | Club Edition of bottle with luminous front label | |
| Hennessy VS x STEPHANE ASHPOOL | 2013 | Exclusively available in France, is entirely covered with a "chameleon" paint presenting a mixture of blue, yellow and green. | |
| Hennessy VS xOs Gemeos | 2013 | Brazilian artists Otavio and Gustavo Pandolf | |
| Hennessy VS xShepard Fairey | 2014 | ||
| Hennessy VS xShepard Fairey Deluxe Edition | 2014 | Gift set of two bottles with a booklet providing a behind-the-scenes look at the Hennessy and Shepard Fairey partnership, and three exclusive collectible stickers designed by the artist | |
| Hennessy VS xScott Campbell | 2016 | ||
| Hennessy VS xScott Campbell Deluxe Edition | 2016 | Gift set of two bottles with a booklet providing a behind-the-scenes look at the Hennessy and Scott Campbell partnership, in a wooden box | |
| Hennessy VSJonOne | 2017 | ||
| Hennessy VS xVhils | 2018 | ||
| Hennessy VS xFelipe Pantone | 2019 | ||
| Hennessy VS xJulien Colombier | 2021 | ||
| Hennessy VS xLes Twins | 2021 | Two editions were released | |
| Hennessy VS xNas | 2023 | 50th anniversary of hip hop | |
| VSOP | |||
| Hennessy VSOP Helios | 2011 | Gold Bottle (named after Greek god of sun) | |
| Hennessy VSOP "NyX" | 2011 | Platinum bottle (label glows under black light) | |
| Hennessy VSOP Kyrios | 2012 | Black bottle (3D label) | |
| Hennessy VSOP Depuis | 2013 | Red bottle | |
| Hennessy VSOP xJohn Maeda | 2017 | With glasses | |
| XO | |||
| Hennessy X.O xMarc Newson | 2017 | ||
| Hennessy XO Odyssey | 2007–11 | Released every year since 2007 (2011 bottle sits on rock formation) | |
| Other Editions | |||
| Hennessy Kenzo | 1997–99 | Fashion designer Kenzo (subsidiary of LVMH) | [n 1] |
| Hennessy Red Book | 2011 | Levandovka filling | |
| Hennessy X Futura | 2012 | New York graffiti artistFutura | |
| Hennessy Fine De Cognac and Tea | 2011 | Tea House Maison de Thé Théodor |
Hennessy has a long-standing relationship withAfrican American culture, especially hip hop.[27] It has been described as "synonymous with rap music and African Americans, who are the brand's major consumers and advocates".[28] While music, especially the 20042Pac song "Hennessy" has been credited with popularising the drink, some historians have pointed to a much older relationship, which began when African American servicemen encountered cognac in France duringWorld War I andWorld War II.[27]
Hennessy has actively pursued this consumer group for decades. It targeted minority audiences as early as the 1950s, when it placed advertisements in African American magazines likeEbony andJet, used African American models, and hired African American employees.[28] By some estimates more than two thirds of Hennessy sold in the United States is consumed by African Americans.[29] It is sometimes referred to as "Henny".[30]
Hennessy appears frequently in the lyrics of popular music, and by one estimate the words "Hennessy" or "cognac" are referenced in more than 1,000 songs.[28][31]
Some notable examples include "KC Tea" (2010) byTech N9ne,[32] "Hennessey" (2004) by2Pac,[33] "Hennesey n Buddah" (2000) bySnoop Dogg,[34] "Hennessy" (2021) by Kodoku,[35] "Love Scars" (2017) byTrippie Redd,[36] "We Be Burnin'" (2005) bySean Paul,[37] "Boombayah" byK-pop groupBlackpink,[38] "Hennessy and Sailor Moon" (2016) byYung Lean,[39] "The Humpty Dance" (1990) byDigital Underground,[40] "Pass Me Da Green" byMaster P (1997),[41] "Moodz" byBlackbear, "Red Bull & Hennessy" byJenny Lewis,[42] "6 Inch" byBeyoncé,[43] "Blame It" byJamie Foxx,[44] "Henny & Gingerale" byMayer Hawthorne,[45] "N.Y. State of Mind" byNas, "Heaven & Hennessey" by Nana, "Whistle" byD-Block Europe,[46] "Better Now", "Pain" by 2Pac and "Rockstar (ft.21 Savage)" byPost Malone.[47][48] The cognac is referenced in the chorus of theDrake single "One Dance" (2016),[49] which reached #1 on theBillboard Hot 100.[50] The Rap duoMobb Deep also wear Hennessy jerseys in the music video for their 1995 hit single "Shook Ones (Part II)".[51]
In a 2019 interview with theSouth China Morning Post, Maurice-Richard Hennessy said that “the word ‘Hennessy’ goes well in a song", and disclosed that he had met several rap artists, who he thought were "nice people". He told the paper that "they often come from poor backgrounds and ask me about recommendations, how to drink it, how it's made.”[52]
Hennessy is the drink of choice for Blues musician Del Paxton in the movieThat Thing You Do![53] In theJames Bond filmOn Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond, rescued by aSt. Bernard inSwitzerland, curtly dismisses the dog and tells him to bring five star Hennessy.[54]
At the2009 VMAs interruption,Kanye West was reportedly intoxicated after drinking Hennessy and other various alcoholic drinks before his infamous interruption ofTaylor Swift.[55]
Hennessy sponsors the New Irish Writing competition in theIrish Independent, and the associated annual Hennessy Literary Award, that has launched such Irish writers asJoseph O'Connor,Dermot Bolger,Colm Ó Clúbhán,Patrick McCabe,Colum McCann,Frank McGuinness,Anne Enright,Hugo Hamilton,Dermot Healy andNeil Jordan.[56][57][58]
Hennessy was the favourite drink ofKim Jong-il, formerSupreme Leader of North Korea. Hennessy once reported that Kim spent over $700,000 a year on Paradis cognac.[59]
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| National | |
