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.

Hennessy XO was designed in 1879 by Maurice Hennessy—the fourth generation of the Hennessy family to run the house—and his cellar master Emile Filioux—the third member of his family to take on the role. Arriving shortly after the house’’s bottlings began using the star system in 1865 and named Extra Old, XO was designed to bring together aged cognacs in an outstanding bottling reserved at the time exclusively for Maurice Hennessy’’s friends. It soon became a global success, however, and was found all across the world.