Era: 1940s
ABV: Not stated
Volume: 70cl
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When the Irish Jacobite, Richard Hennessy, founded a distillery in 1765, he could not have possibly foreseen the scale to which his fledgling business would grow. Hennessy found himself in the right place at the right time as trade in alcoholic spirits was booming, extremely popular not only with the French but also with many people within the British Empire. In addition, Hennessy and the other cognac producers at the time also benefitted from rum shortages due to the Seven Years War. Fast forward to the 1970s and Kilian Hennessy, a fifth-generation descendant of Richard became the CEO of the family business. In 1971 she oversaw the merger of the business with French wine giant, Moët & Chandon, which created one of the biggest drinks companies in the world. The business was further strengthened in 1987 by the merger with fashion house, Louis Vuitton to create LVMH, however due to a managerial crisis the following year, Guinness (now Diageo) also came on board by securing a 34% share. Today Hennessy sell around 50 million bottles of cognac per year and account for more than 40% of the world’s supply.
The name Jas Hennessy is embossed onto the capsule and the neck tag distinguishing XO remains (although the main label is gone), allowing the brand and classification to be confirmed. Hennessy XO was created in 1870 by Maurice Hennessy and master blender Emile Fillioux, initially only for family and friends. It is a blend of more than one hundred cognacs aged for at least ten years, some for significantly longer. Originally it would have been in a traditional cylindrical cognac bottle. This bottle was produced before metal shortages in WWII required that lead capsules be replaced with paper one and before the iconic Hennessy XO decanter featuring a bunch of grapes was designed by Gerald de Geoffre de Chabrignac in 1947.
A truly sublime drop if you can live without the main label. £950 instead of £1,250.
