Hennessy

Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (French pronunciation: ​[ɛnɛsi]), is a French cognac distiller with its headquarters located in Cognac, France. Jas Hennessy & Co. sells about 50 million bottles a year worldwide, making it the largest cognac producer, supplying more than 40 percent of the world's cognac, a variety of brandy. The company is owned by Moët Hennessy, which is in turn owned by LVMH (66%) and Diageo (34%).

For other uses, see Hennessy (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Hennessey Performance Engineering.
Jas Hennessy & Co.
Founded1765 (1765)
FounderRichard Hennessy
HeadquartersCognac, France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Bernard Peillon, Chairman & CEO; Boris de Vroomen, International Director
ProductsCognac
Revenue €954.2 million (2012)
OwnerChris Hennessy
ParentLVMH (66%)
Diageo (34%)
WebsiteHennessy.com

History
Richard Hennessy (1724–1800) founded the distillery in 1765
Brand ambassador Maurice Hennessy at a presentation of new cognac in 2011

The Hennessy cognac distillery was founded by Irish Jacobite military officer Richard Hennessy in 1765.[1] His son James Hennessy gave the company its name Jas Hennessy & Co in 1813.[2] During the 1970s, Kilian Hennessy, a fifth-generation direct descendant of Hennessy, became the CEO of Hennessy, succeeding his first cousin Maurice-Richard. Kilian Hennessy spearheaded the company's 1971 merger with Moët et Chandon, which created Moët Hennessy.[3]

Moët Hennessy merged with Louis Vuitton in 1987, creating one of the world's largest luxury brand conglomerates, Louis Vuitton • Moët-Hennessy or LVMH. In 1988, a management crisis led to the group's takeover by Bernard Arnault, owner of the haute couture house Christian Dior, with the support of Guinness. Kilian Hennessy remained on the company's advisory board until his death in 2010 at the age of 103.[3]

Marketing

Recently, Hennessy has tried to broaden the appeal of the drink beyond its traditional base of older drinkers by introducing new products such as "Pure White", "Hennessy Black"[4] and "Fine de Cognac" and marketing them accordingly.[5]

Products
  • Hennessy Black
  • Hennessy Pure White
  • Hennessy V.S
  • Privilége V.S.O.P
  • Hennessy X.O
  • Deutschland Moet Hennessy
  • Pure White
  • Private Reserve
  • Hennessy Paradis
  • Hennessy Diptyque
  • Richard Hennessy
  • Timeless (2000 units produced)
  • Ellipse (2000 units produced)
  • Beauté du Siècle (100 units produced, in chest)
  • Hennessy VVVV (1860)
  • Hennessy No.1
  • Hennessy Silver Jubilee (1977)
  • Hennessy First Landing 1868
  • Hennessy Prive (Travel Retail Exclusive)
  • Hennessy Library
  • James Hennessy

Collectors' bottles
Collector bottleYear releasedDescriptionNotes
Hennessy VS "44"2009Honor of 44th president Barack Obama
Hennessy VS "NUL"2010National Urban League
Hennessy VS "BOA"2010Blending of Art (five different bottles with two designers per)
Hennessy VS "KAWS"2011New York graffiti artist KAWS design
Hennessy Fine De Cognac and Tea2011Tea House Maison de Thé Théodor
Hennessy VSOP Helios2011Gold Bottle (named after Greek god of sun)
Hennessy VSOP "NyX"2011Platinum bottle (label glows under black light)
Hennessy VSOP Kyrios2012Black bottle (3D label)
Hennessy VSOP Depuis2013Red bottle
Hennessy XO Odyssey2007–11Released every year since 2007 (2011 bottle sits on rock formation)
Hennessy Kenzo1997–99Fashion designer Kenzo (subsidiary of LVMH)[n 1]
Hennessy Red Book2011Levandovka filling
Hennessy X Futura2012New York graffiti artist Futura
Hennessy Luminous2013Brand name on label has luminous glow

Hennessy Literary Awards

Hennessy sponsors the New Irish Writing competition in the Irish Independent, and the associated annual Hennessy Literary Award, that has launched such Irish writers as Joseph O'Connor, Dermot Bolger, Patrick McCabe, Colum McCann, Frank McGuinness, Anne Enright, Hugo Hamilton, Dermot Healy and Neil Jordan.[6][7][8]

Hennessy is mentioned in hundreds of hip-hop songs,[9] including "KC Tea" (2010) by Tech N9ne,[10] "Hennessey" (2004) by 2Pac,[11] "Hennesey N Buddah" (2000) by Snoop Dogg [12] and "Love Scars" (2017) by Trippie Redd. It was also mentioned in the opening verse of Korean girl group Blackpink's debut song, "Boombayah" as well as Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance". Hennessy is also referenced in the hook of the Master P song "Pass Me Da Green" on the album "Ghetto D", released in 1997. The refrain "Pass me da green, I need some weed with my Hennessy" is repeated approximately 24 times during the song [13].

The cognac was notably mentioned in the chorus of the Drake single "One Dance" (2016), in which the rapper references having a Hennessy in his hand.[14] The song saw immense global popularity and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.[15] Hennessy is also mentioned in Blackbear's song "Moodz" featuring 24Hrs and in Jenny Lewis' song "Red Bull & Hennessy".[16]

Hennessy was the favorite drink of Kim Jong-il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Hennessy once reported that Kim spent over $700,000 a year on Paradis cognac.[17]

Notes
  1. Produced for the Australian, Hong Kong, Indonesian, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and United States market. Around 18000 bottles were then produced, with the blue version launched in 1997 and the yellow one in 1999.

References
  1. Time Inc (24 May 1937). LIFE. Time Inc. p. 64. ISSN 0024-3019.
  2. "Hennessy, l'empire du cognac". France-Soir. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  3. "Cognac magnate Kilian Hennessy dies at 103". Agence France Presse. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  4. "Introducing Hennessy Black", cocktailenthusiast.com, 2 June 2010; retrieved 16 March 2011.
  5. Hein, Kenneth. "Cognac is in the house", allbusiness.com, 22 September 2003; accessed 8 November 2014.
  6. Vanessa O'Loughlin, "New Irish Writing", Writing.ie; accessed 8 November 2014.
  7. "Your chance to join the ranks of our best writers", independent.ie, 24 March 2012.
  8. "New home for New Irish Writing and the Hennessy Award" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Writing4all.ie; accessed 8 November 2014.
  9. "Lyrics containing the term: hennessy". www.lyrics.com. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  10. Tech N9ne – KC Tea, retrieved 2018-01-27
  11. 2Pac (Ft. Obie Trice) – Hennessey, retrieved 2018-01-27
  12. Snoop Dogg (Ft. Kokane) – Hennesey N Buddah, retrieved 2018-01-27
  13. Master P – Pass Me Da Green, retrieved 2019-12-10
  14. Drake (Ft. Kyla & Wizkid) – One Dance, retrieved 2017-12-25
  15. McIntyre, Hugh. "Drake's 'One Dance' Was Officially The Biggest Song On The Planet In 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  16. Jenny Lewis – Red Bull & Hennessy, retrieved 2019-04-09
  17. Paul Fischer (2015). A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power. Flatiron Books. p. 169.
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