Created in 1765, the Hennessy brand was born of the vision of one man, Richard Hennessy. An Irish officer enlisted in Louis XV's army, Hennessy very quickly saw cognac's potential on the international market. He set up his own bottling business and founded a dynasty that would span eight generations. Hennessy soon acquired a reputation for exceptional cognacs and the appellations it created were used by all of the other cognac brands, including Very Old Superior Old Pale (VSOP) and Extra Old (XO). In 250 years Hennessy has remained the world leader in cognac.

A limited edition of the famous Hennessy Very Special, one of the house’’s spearhead bottlings. This edition released in 2012 was part of a series of collaborations between Hennessy and artists commissioned to design the labels and links the brand to its era. In this case, the labels were designed by New York graffiti artist Futura—aka Leonard McGur—famous for producing art in the Big Apple’’s metro. The cognac itself is identical to Hennessy Very Special, a blend of cognacs aged in new oak casks for two to five years.