Hennessy

Jas Hennessy & Cie., commonly known simply as Hennessy (French pronunciation: [ɛnɛsi]), is a French producer of cognac, founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy which has its headquarters in Cognac, France.

It is one of the best-known cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together make around 45% of the world's cognac. Hennessy sells approximately 102 million bottles of its cognacs per year, making it the world's largest cognac producer, and in 2017 its sales represented around 60% of the US cognac market. As well as distilling cognac eaux-de-vie itself, the company also acts as a négociant.

The brand is owned by Moët Hennessy since a champagne & cognac merger in the early seventies, which is in turn owned by LVMH (66%) and Diageo (34%), with Diageo acting as a controlling shareholder. 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 in hip-hop.

History

The Hennessy cognac distillery was founded by Irish Jacobite military officer Richard Hennessy in 1765, who had served in the army of King Louis XV. 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 the commune of Cognac, and began distilling and exporting brandies, first to Britain and his native Ireland, closely followed by the United States. In 1813 Richard Hennessy's son James Hennessy gave the company its trading name, Jas Hennessy & Co. 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.