{"type":"root","children":[{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Hennessy was founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy, an Irish military officer who arrived in the French town of Cognac after fighting for the French army in the Seven Years' War. He set up a brandy trading house with local connections and an early focus on shipping eaux-de-vie to Ireland and Britain. The Hennessy and Fillioux families have run the cellars between them ever since. The Fillioux master-blender role has now passed through eight generations of the same family. The current Master Blender, Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, took over in 2017 from his uncle Yann Fillioux."}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Hennessy is the largest cognac house in the world, accounting for roughly 40% of global cognac sales. It has been owned by Moet Hennessy, part of the LVMH group, since the 1971 merger with Moet & Chandon. The house's signature releases are the V.S (entry, two years minimum aged), the V.S.O.P (mid-tier), the X.O (which Maurice Hennessy invented in 1870 as a private blend for his close friends and which the rest of the cognac industry subsequently followed), and the rare Paradis and Richard Hennessy expressions at the top. The X.O bottle shape was designed by master glassmaker Gerald Daniel Calabrese in 1947 and has been a recognised piece of twentieth-century industrial design ever since."}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"At Bellyful, Hennessy sits in the Passing Through tier. The V.S, X.O, and Pure White are available exclusively through RLB travel retail. Not stocked for online shipping; the bottle on the duty-free shelf is the bottle in your hand. The Pure White in particular is significant because it is not sold in the United States, making the on-island purchase the only legal route into an American suitcase."}]}]}