Hennessy celebrates 250 years with special blend

To celebrate its 250^th anniversary, Hennessy Cognac has launched the Hennessy 250 Collector Blend alongside a global artistic and cultural event, The Hennessy 250 Tour.

Hennessy is celebrating its 250th anniversary with the launch of a global tour and special Cognac release

Since 2011, Yann Fillioux, Maison Hennessy’s master blender, has been choosing eaux-de-vie from ones he has selected during his 50 years with the Cognac house, with the help of his tasting committee.

To create the Hennessy 250 Collector Blend, the eaux-de-vie were aged in 250 handmade, specially commissioned 250-litre barrels of Limousin oak, having already been aged for at least 10 years under “optimum conditions”.

The special release is said to offer aromatic tones varying form herbal and spicy to bitter orange, fresh nutmeg, liquorice, dried peppermint leaves and saffron.

“To mark milestone celebrations, Hennessy has always carefully created a special Cognac to illustrate a sense of continuity,” commented Fillioux. “Today, the Maison celebrates 250 years of savoir-faire and excellence by creating a unique anniversary blend.”

In addition, the Hennessy 250 Tour will take place from March to September visiting the Zaha Hadid Opera house in Guangzhou, China; the New Manege in Moscow, Russia; the Lincoln Centre in New York, US; the Circa Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa; and an undisclosed location in Paris, France.

Put together by art curator Hervé Mikaeloff in collaboration with scenographer Nathalie Crinière and heritage expert Raphael Gérard, the tour aims to showcase leading contemporary artists whose works and installations “evoke the Maison’s legacy and expertise”.

Furthermore, guests to the tour will be able to record a digital message that will be saved in a 21^st century time capsule in a barrel in Hennessy’s cellars in Cognac, where they will remain sealed for 50 years until Hennessy’s next anniversary celebration in 2065.

“Ever since Richard Hennessy founded the Maison in 1765, and throughout the seven generations that followed, Hennessy has forged its reputation by always looking forward, by being engaged with and passionate about the avant-garde, by cultivating deep ties with faraway countries and cultures and by thinking globally before that notion was invented,” said Bernard Peillon, chairman and CEO of the Maison Hennessy.