{"product_id":"hennessy-xo-cognac","title":"Hennessy X.O Cognac","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDried fruit, dark spice, oak, long warm finish.\u003c\/strong\u003e The bottle that invented the X.O category.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1870, Maurice Hennessy ordered a private blend from his own cellars for his close friends. He requested eaux-de-vie significantly older than the standard V.S.O.P and stamped the bottles \"X.O\" (Extra Old). The friends asked for more. Other cognac houses noticed. By the end of the 1870s, X.O had become a category designation across the industry. The bottle in your hand is the original. Every other X.O on the back-bar is a response to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA blend of more than a hundred eaux-de-vie, the youngest aged ten years and the oldest considerably more. 700ml. 40% ABV.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eTasting\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNose.\u003c\/strong\u003e Deep and complex. Dried fig, candied orange peel, dark chocolate, leather, cinnamon, vanilla, oak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePalate.\u003c\/strong\u003e Full-bodied. Sweet at the front (dried fruit, honey), then darker spice through the mid-palate (clove, nutmeg, candied ginger), with the oak structure holding everything in place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFinish.\u003c\/strong\u003e Very long. Warm, slightly spiced, layered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody.\u003c\/strong\u003e Full.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServe\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNeat in a tulip glass.\u003c\/strong\u003e Five minutes to warm. No ice. This is the way to actually taste it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne large cube.\u003c\/strong\u003e Acceptable in hot weather, slightly muting the spice register.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNever mixed.\u003c\/strong\u003e The X.O is a sipper. If a cocktail recipe asks for X.O, the recipe is wrong or the bartender is wealthy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor the long evening.\u003c\/strong\u003e A snifter after dinner, a square of seventy per cent dark chocolate alongside. A small cup of strong black coffee, separate, not mixed. The pour you bring out when the conversation is good and there is no early start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe story\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Hennessy and Fillioux families have run the Hennessy cellars between them since 1765. The Fillioux master-blender role is now in its eighth generation; Renaud Fillioux de Gironde took over from his uncle Yann in 2017. The X.O recipe sits in their hands. The blend draws on more than a hundred eaux-de-vie from the Hennessy reserves, aged in French Limousin oak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe bottle's shape was designed by master glassmaker Gérald Daniel Calabrese in 1947 and has remained substantially unchanged. The decanter is itself a recognised industrial design.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy this bottle is at Bellyful\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe traditional after-dinner luxury gift. RLB travel-retail pricing clears most home markets once tax is included, particularly for travellers heading to the US (where state liquor taxes push X.O retail to its highest international price). The gift to bring to a senior relative, a senior client, or anyone whose previous brown spirit you cannot quite remember.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn St Kitts, this is the bottle a grateful guest brings to their host on day one of a stay. Not for drinking that night. For leaving on the host's shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAwards and press\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe original X.O cognac (Hennessy, 1870). The designation the category now follows.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBottle shape designed by Gérald Daniel Calabrese in 1947, recognised as a piece of twentieth-century industrial design.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom the world's largest cognac house (Hennessy, founded 1765, ~40% of global cognac sales).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEighth-generation Fillioux master-blender lineage.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat.\u003c\/strong\u003e 700ml · 40% ABV · Blend of more than 100 eaux-de-vie, youngest 10 years aged.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer.\u003c\/strong\u003e Hennessy, founded 1765. Cognac, France. Owned by Moët Hennessy \/ LVMH.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTier.\u003c\/strong\u003e Passing Through.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hennessy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46261915418796,"sku":"BER-HENNESSY-0002","price":809.0,"currency_code":"XCD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/5140\/9324\/files\/Cognac_Hennessy_XO.jpg?v=1779071308","url":"https:\/\/belly.ful.kn\/products\/hennessy-xo-cognac","provider":"Bellyful","version":"1.0","type":"link"}