The Best Idea Yet - 🥃 Hennessy: From King George to Kendrick | 43

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

A wounded Irish soldier crawls from a blood-soaked battlefield in the French countryside. He survives, but his fighting days are over. So he settles in the Cognac region, and in 1765, starts a modest brandy business. Richard Hennessy could never dream that 260 years later, his name would ring out—not just in the world of fine spirits, but in the universe of hip-hop. No liquor brand in existence has more musical name-drops than Hennessy (mentioned in over 2,500 songs!). But the brand’s accomplishments go far beyond rhyming with “Tennessee”: Hennessy is the top-selling cognac in the world. The brand played a major role in supporting civil rights, as the first-ever corporate sponsor of the NAACP. And when Black soldiers fought bravely to liberate Europe in WWII, grateful French farmers handed them bottles of Hennessy as thanks. Find out how a Prohibition loophole helped Hennessy get a foothold in the US; how an Olympic medalist unlocked Hennessy’s sophisticated appeal; and why Hennessy cognac is the best idea yet.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the best idea yet early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Now, Jack, you know, we're not supposed to give investing advice on this show. Can we give investing advice coded through musical lyrics? Yes. Beyonce, Cowboy Carter album. She drops an entire track called Levi's. Shares of Levi jumped 15% after that name dropped by Beyonce.

And then she mentions Red Lobster in another track. That single stanza almost saved Red Lobster's business right there. Prince mentioned a little red corvette. That was great for GM stock. Bruce Springsteen wore Levi's on the cover of the board in the USA album. That was code to Wall Street. What we're saying is when an artist drops an album, if they name check a publicly traded corporation, you kind of want to buy that stock.

But, Jack, despite the lyrical appreciation of your 401, None of those brands have received a fraction as much musical love as... You know what? Let's just hear it direct from Snoop. A poor a tall glass of Hennessy. Do you want to have a sip with me? Like the D-O-G just said, this is Hennessy, aka Henny, the VIP of VSOPs, a name that will wipe you out in a spell and beat.

It's a 260-year-old French cognac made by an Irishman for an English. English king. That's become the top-selling cognac in the world. It's also the number one liquor in all of hip-hop. Over 2,500 unique tracks have name dropped Hennessee. No other alcohol brand comes even close. Vuv, forget about it. Crystal way behind. The winner is Hennessee, beloved by artists like Biggie Knaz and Kendrick. Hennessy might actually be the only thing Kendrick and Drake can agree on.

But Hennessy's journey is so much wilder and so much older. than you might expect. In fact, Hennessee Cognac predates the United States itself. That makes Hennessee the most mature brand we've ever covered on this show. It's a wild story. We'll explain how a drink made for white European royalty eventually became the drink of choice for black American rappers.

And how did it make that shift? It has to do with Prohibition, an Olympian, and a World War II fighting battalion called the Black Panthers. And we'll tell you how it ultimately sold. to the biggest luxury brand on earth. And along the way, we'll hear why you need a top shelf strategy. And we'll tell you the recipe for winning the love of a community. So, Jack, to quote the Hennessy Connoisseur Ice Cube,

check yourself before you wreck yourself. Here's why Hennessy is the best idea yet. From Wondery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell. And I'm Jack Kravici Kramer. And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. And the bold risk takers who made them go viral. and discover Vegas-level excitement with BetMGM Casino.

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and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in, Valerie learns her summer is about to get far more complicated than she ever planned. She's in over her head and head over heels. Listen to Rich Girl Summer, now on Audible. Go to audible.com slash rich girl summer. You're in a massive field in the countryside, teaming with soldiers on horseback. The fresh springtime grass has been trampled to mud by thousands of thundering hooves.

It's 1745, and you are in the Belgian village of Fontnoy, right near the French border. Your ears are ringing, though, with the crack of muskets and officers screaming orders. There's a blast, a soldier falls. Blood soaks the navy blue wool of his uniform, making the brass button slippery as he frantically tries to take off his coat and stop the bleeding. This wounded soldier is hundreds of miles from his home in Killavulin over an Ireland's county cork. The name of this wounded man is Richard Hennessy. He's a 20-year-old Irishman fighting for France in the army of King Louis the 15th. He's part of a wave of soldiers known as the Wild Geese, because they migrated from

Ireland to fight in the French army. Yeah, well, when it comes to how much 18th century Irish Catholics hate the Protestant English, this is the ultimate geopolitical beef. The Brits, they've passed repressive laws at home that target Catholics specifically. So the enemy of my enemy, the French, are friends of the Irish. Meanwhile, France has assisted Ireland in fighting the British, even sending their own troops in as reinforcements. So to repay France for this help and for an excuse to keep fighting the English, soldiers like Richard Hennessy have formed an Irish brigade within the French military. But now, things have gotten pretty real for Richard and his fellow countrymen. The whole Irish brigade, they've suffered heavy losses. And now Richard is in danger

of becoming another casualty. After getting injured, Richard decides he needs to find something else to do with his life. He retires from the soldier's life and settles down in the beautiful region of Cognac, France. He gets married, he has his son named Jacques, who also goes by James, and he picks up a new trade, distilling wine to produce brandy. And in 1765, Richard Hennessy gets a few loans from Parisian banks to build a new cognac house. With the bag secured, Hennessy cognac is born. If you're not a big drinker, or you just don't order things you have trouble pronouncing, you might not be clear on what a cognac even is. So Jack and I whipped up some cliff notes for you.

Cognac is a spirit that actually dates back to the 1500s when the Dutch first started sailing to France. And on those trips, the Dutch would buy a bunch of French wine to take home with them. But they struggled to keep it from spoiling before arriving in the Netherlands. Imagine buying thousands of francs worth of French vino, only to get back to Amsterdam and realize it's all turned to vinegar. So the Dutch start distilling their wine, meaning heating it up in a still to make it more pure.

When you heat your wine in this metal contraption, the alcohol portion evaporates first, since alcohol has a lower boiling point than water. Then all that alcohol vapor collects in the walls of the still and cools back down, condensing it to a more concentrated form of booze with fewer impurities. Since the French love coming up with terms that you hate pronouncing, the resulting spirit name in France is O'Divie or Water of Life.

There's also a Dutch term for this, Braun de Vine or burnt wine, aka Brandy. But Jack, we're still only halfway to Cognac. Once the Dutch figure out this wine distilling hack, French winemakers from the Cognac region do them one better. They set their brandy apart by double distilling it, then aging it two years in oak barrels. Okay, so who came up with that move?

Well, it happens to be a very troubled man from Cognac called the Lord of Saganzac. He's a knight who fought in the Crusades only to return home and find out that his wife had been unfaithful. Crusading knights, they aren't a very forgiving bunch. So this Lord murders his wife and her lover. Oh, no. Yeah. So after this terrible incident,

he starts having dreams about being boiled alive by the devil. And in this dream, the devil has to boil him twice in order to separate his soul from his body. Incredibly, the Lord of Saganzak decides these dreams are not assigned to seek psychiatric help, but are instead a message from God. In order to extract the soul of his brandy, he should distill it twice. We cannot confirm what happened to this man's soul, but we can tell you what it does to

the cognac brandy. Heating and distilling it in huge copper stills makes the liquor even more concentrated. Basically, it has a higher proof per a fluid ounce than it did before. And a more concentrated alcohol means less volume, so it's a lot more efficient to ship overseas. Hence, cognac. Messed up origin, but tasty high-proof brandy. And like wine, the longer it ages, the more valuable it becomes. Barrows of cognac can appreciate like a 401k still today.

Once cognac has been invented and perfected, coniac houses start springing up in the early 1700s. And the first one founded, that's still around today, it's a label coincidentally named Martel. No relation to, we're Italian, they're French. The next big cognac maker after Martel is Remy Martin in 1724. And by the time Richard Hennessy gets in the game, it's actually 40 years after the founding of Remy

and 50 years after the founding of Martel. Hennessy, kind of the young whippersnappers here. Being a newcomer brand and a legacy business can be challenging. But luckily, Richard has an ace up his sleeve. His son, Jacques. It's 1795 and a gorgeous wedding. is unfolding in front of us. The church is full, the bouquets are fragrant,

the lucky couple, Jacques Hennessy, son of cognac founder Richard and Marta Martel of the distinguished Martel family. These two are what's known as a cognac power couple. This arrangement forges an alliance between the more established Martel brand and this young upstart Hennessy brand, though by now this upstart has been around for like 30 years.

At the time of this marriage, 1795, Hennessy has just started sending cognac to New York in the newly established United States of America. And thanks to their new family alliance with House Martel, Hennessy now has the means to step up its exports because the two companies can share resources. So when Richard, Hennessy's founder dies in 1800 at the right old age of 80, his son Jacques doubles down on exporting to grow the business. Basically, Jacques realizes what he's sitting on here. A shelf stable appreciating indulgence asset like Cognac? Oh, and by the way, it can survive long-sea voyages?

That is a real opportunity. So, with Jacques fully in charge, all of his decisions revolve around selling Hennessy outside of France. So he implements a number of changes to focus the business on exports. The company stops shipping their products in barrels. Instead, they start shipping and labeled glass. glass bottles. It's probably easier to sell someone a single bottle of brandy than asking them to go grab a wheelbarrel. Yeah. In fact, Jacques creates his own separate entity just for selling and distributing the

stuff. He names it Jacques, Hennessy and Company. And he gets busy, exporting Hennessy, farther and from home. Russia by 1818. Australia in 1852. China, 1859. And right at the start of this exporting push, Hennessy gets a request that sends Konyk into hockey stick territory. The company is contracted by England's Prince of Wales, who will one day become King George the 4th. By the way, this is the son of mad King George, the guy who provoked America into declaring independence. This prince happens to consider himself a great connoisseur of cognac, and he wants something

a tad more primo for the British royal court. So in 1817, he asked Jacques Hennessy to make A, and we quote, Very Superior Old Pale Cognac, or V-S-O-P. Jack, I got to ask, what makes it very superior? Well, the O-to-V used to make it has been aged for at least four years, which gives the cognac more flavor and more smoothness. Years later, when Jacques's grandson, Maurice Hennessy takes over, he invents an even older, even rarer blend called the X-O for extra old.

Or to use Prince George's vernacular, very, very superior. But get this, Hennessy's X-O label immediately gets borrowed by competitors like Remy Martin. Meaning, Hennessy is creating the language that will be used across the cognac industry. By the way, creating these top-shelf tiers is something we now see in a whole lot of luxury sectors, from watches to handbags to sports cars. But of course, it is everywhere in the booze world. Between the top shelving and all the exporting they're doing, Hennessy hits a new milestone here. By 1890, they are the largest global producer of cognac in the world.

Which invites a question, are Hennessy's premium team? how the brand goes from old world spirit to hip-hop lyric? Because our buddy Buster Rhymes is listening to today's episode, and I think he's still waiting for that story. Well, to find out how Hemisie came to dominate hip-hop, we're actually going to need to zero in specifically on the brand's role in America. As we mentioned, Tennessee has been kicking at stateside since the 1790s, but they're going to experience a major sales surge during a surprising moment in time.

Actually, from the perspective of the alcohol industry, the worst moment in time ever. Would you believe this liquor legend's luckiest break was actually Prohibition? Today's show is brought to you by Amazon Small Business. Nick and I are obsessed with this hot, crispy chili oil called Boone. Yeah, it's great. Spicy, crunchy goes on everything. Pasta, pizza, even paella, total game changer for my fridge.

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standing at the darkened doorway of a building with no sign. You and your best gal are dressed to the nines. If your buddineer is fresh, she's wearing two strings of pearls to accent her flapper dress, and then you knock on the door. What's the password? Bananas. All right, come on in. Once you're past the bouncer, you and your girl slip into the speakeasy,

where there's a party in full swing. There's dancing, ice, coop glasses sloshing over with bathtub gin. This is the Roaring 20s and you are here to roar. But make sure you keep a lookout because the coppers could bust in to shut this party down any minute now. This is life under Prohibition, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which famously outlawed alcohol nationwide. It's ratified in 1919 and enforcement begins in 1920. Before Prohibition, alcohol contributed up to 40% of federal and state taxes. During Prohibition, the government lost that revenue stream, which was $11 billion a year in tax revenue. And

alcohol brands, they were forced to pivot. Anheuser Bush, the makers of Budweiser, they started selling ice cream to stay afloat. So the only one selling alcohol at this time were bootlegging gangsters, brewing illegally in bathtubs and basement somewhere. You would not expect this to be a great time for a cognac company. But Prohibition is actually the very moment when Hennessy gets a major leg up in the United States spirits market. And it's all thanks to a helpful technical loophole. Brandy, gin, whiskey, and other spirits, they get outlawed. Unless your doctor prescribes it. Because at this time, spirits are considered medicinal as well as recreational. Sort of like what's happened to cannabis today. Basically, ordering a whiskey at a bar is illegal in the 1920s.

But if you get a doctor's note, oh, you're good. And Brandy happens to be considered one of the more helpful curative spirits out there. Good for your nerves, good for your heart, good for your circulation. Now, does drinking brandy really perform any of the curative functions it's thought to have had at the time? Debatable. But doesn't matter, because Hennessy has a powerful advocate during American Prohibition. It's their sole U.S. importer and distributor, Sheffelin and Co. It's established as an importing house for liquor

and pharmaceuticals back in the 1790s. Around the same time, Hennessy first made its way across the ocean to the U.S. For over a century, sheffelin is where you could pick up, not just your Hennessy, but everything from cod liver oil to gunpowder to medicinal cocaine.

Basically your 19th century CVS, but they were selling munitions, too. But when Prohibition, hits, this medicinal loophole is huge for Shefflin to exploit. Suddenly, two elixirs frequently prescribed by pharmacists for that headache? Well, it's Hennessy Cognac and Moette and Chandon Champagne, both imported by Sheffelin. Hennessy has found a legal cheat code. They've hit the regulatory jackpot. You see moments like this every decade or so in business. When one company takes a big leap forward thanks to a sudden change in the environment, like a natural

disaster or a brand new law. As a distributor, Sheffelin and Co. is so instrumental to Hennessy's success during Prohibition that Hennessy will eventually acquire them. But for now, let's meet the man in charge of Sheffelin during this critical moment. The company's president, William J. Sheffelin. William is a direct blue-blooded descendant of the U.S. founding father, John Jay. His American roots go back to the signing of the Constitution. And honestly, Jack, William's early life looks like something straight out of the Gilded Age show on HBO. This guy definitely eating breakfast off the fine channel. And he actually looks like Seth Myers.

If Seth parted his hair in the middle, like Dwight True. But despite that fancy pedigree, William, he's a pretty down-to-earth dude. As a young man, he volunteers to serve in the Spanish-American War. He actually loses 50 pounds due to spoiled government rations and takes months to recover. But thankfully, he does. And he comes back to run Shafflin & Co. during the early 20th century. He also dedicates himself

to a lot of social causes, including women's suffrage and especially the rights of black Americans. He befriends the famous civil rights scholar, Booker T. Washington, the one who founded the historically black Tuskegee University, and William even joins Tuskegee's board of directors and reportedly never misses a meeting.

Given William's commitment to civil rights, it's probably no coincidence that Hennessy becomes the NAACP's very first corporate sponsor, in 1909. And it's this sponsorship that marks the first official example we could find of Hennessy, the French Irish Cognac of British Royals being connected to the American black community. But it definitely won't be the last. It's near Christmas 1944, and we're back in the countryside. But this time, not by the riverbanks of the Cognac region. We're in the frigid forest of Arden in Belgium, where Hitler is attempting to split the allies as they retake land

the Germans had invaded. The soldiers have rifles and grenades instead of muskets and horses, but otherwise it's not unlike the Battle of Fontnoy two centuries earlier. The Germans are well fortified and they are tough to beat, but the U.S. Army, led by General George S. Patton, they got a plan. This is a job for their African-American tank battalion, the fighting 761, 8K., A, the Black Panther Battalion. Now, depending on which account you read,

you could say Patton sends the Black Panther Battalion out first because he believes in them and wants to give them a chance to show their stuff. Or Jack, as other historians suspect, Patton sent his black soldiers first to be a human shield for the white battalions. Frontline troops sustain the heaviest casualties, and black soldiers are still facing a lot of discrimination within the army.

So this could simply be a strategy to throw Panzer fodder, at the German forces to wear them down until a white battalion can swoop in and claim victory. Either way, the 761st is heroic. The men outperform everyone's expectations. They break through the German forces and they keep going. Over the next few months,

they make it all the way to Austria and help the Allies win the freaking war. By May of 1945, Allied forces declare victory in Europe and here is where our pals over at Hennessy come in. As legend goes, on VE Day, French farmers start digging into their reserves, pulling out bottles of cognac and handing them out to the American soldiers as a gesture of appreciation and to celebrate together. And the French farmers do not discriminate in their gift giving.

Black soldiers are greeted warmly. Bottles of cognac are thrust in their hands by the people thrilled to be freed from access occupation. So once these soldiers are back home, black veterans start adopting cognac as their drink of choice. They're ordering it as their after-dinner go-to. They're pouring it at parties. It's Tommy's birthday?

Better bring a handle of Hennessy. Our team's done a whole lot of research on this, but we can't find exactly who it was, exactly what it was, exactly what the memo was. But someone at Hennessy does get this memo, and they don't just lean in, they jump in. In 1951, the company places the very first spirits ad to run in Ebony Magazine.

Hennessy also buys the first spirits ad Jet Magazine ever runs two years later. Ebony and Jet are both hugely popular and influential in black culture at the time. So the Hennessy ads, they have impact. And it's this foray into magazines about black culture that's part of a larger U.S. marketing push for Hennessy in the 1950s. Because America, it is beer and whiskey country, baby. You're sipping a Schlitz brew where you're pouring a Jack Daniels bourbon. So the cognac needs to take on that piece. painful burden of any new industry, education. Teaching Americans first how to pronounce the

stuff, and second, I'd consume the stuff. Like they say in advertising, if you can't spell it, they won't buy it. And that is why Hennessy starts producing educational ad campaigns to introduce more customers to the product's versatility. The result, Cognac imports to America nearly double in three years to more than 300,000 cases in 1955. And of those 300,000 chases, Hennessy sells the most. The New York Times calls Hennessy the undisputed leader in U.S. sales, ahead of Kavassier, Martel, Remy Martin, you name it. They're ahead of the competition now, yeah, that's good.

But the race is still on. For Hennessy to really blow up, they're going to need to transform from spirit to status symbol. And one person, an Olympic medalist, is going to orchestrate that transformation. Okay, Jack, you have heard of mold. multi-sport athletes in high school, right? Yes, I have. I think we both were. We were two sport athletes, but then there's Herb Douglas.

This guy's a Pittsburgh kid, his father runs a parking garage, most of his neighbors, they work in the steel mills. In a parallel universe, Herb might have ended up doing one of those jobs, too. But Herb gets into sports. It turns out, this dude is just good at everything. Herb becomes a citywide champ in basketball, sprinting, and gymnastics. He is a true triple threat. But that doesn't mean things are easy for him. Right. This is 1940 and Herb is black. Most of his classmates, they are white. On the basketball team, his own teammates refused to pass on the ball. So Herb quits. And instead, he naps his state title in track and field. That's right. Herb goes solo. Herb will attend at the University of Pittsburgh on scholarship and win a bunch

of championships. And eventually, he'll earn a bronze medal in the long jump in the 1948 Olympics. Herb goes on to get his master's with the intention of becoming a coach. But another punch in the gut. Turns out Pittsburgh is not hiring black coaches for its public schools. So he pivots again, this time, to a career in marketing. And that is when Herb drops right into our Hennessy story. Herb takes a marketing job at Shefflin & Co in 1963. Remember those guys, Nick?

They are Hennessy's long time and only American distributor. Shefflin & Co. is now in the hands of the world. William's son, William Shefflin Jr. Shefflin is a company where a talented black executive can succeed. And that's exactly what Herb does. This former Olympian rises in the ranks to become vice president of urban marketing for the Hennessy brand. This makes Herb one of only a few black VPs in all of corporate America at the time.

Now, Jack, it's true that the term urban marketing is usually a not-so-suttle corporate code for marketing to black people. But this actually makes Herb's role even more important because he approaches the job with a historical understanding. He recognizes that Hennessy already enjoys trust within the African American community thanks to some post-war goodwill. And thanks to those well-placed ads in those magazines, Ebony and Jet. Exactly. So Herb presses the company to double down and buy more ads, like a lot more. These print magazines are genuine taste makers in the black community. There's room for Hennessy to deepen its presence within those pages. But here's the key. Herb's advice isn't just about the quantity of ads, it's also about

the quality. And his strategy can be summed up in one word, respect. You see, the print ads that Herb directs all involve well-dressed black people casually preparing to enjoy a cocktail. That's it. It sounds simple, right? But this seemingly basic scene is actually kind of revolutionary. Because Most other booze ads at the time aren't going after African-American customers. They all depict exclusively white people. Or worse, they show black people in a derogatory way. This is especially an issue with some legacy whiskeys hailing from the American South. Many of these brands date back to before the Civil War and would have used enslaved laborers.

Not a great sell for the pages of Ebony. But here is Herb's revolutionary approach. He sets up ads that feature everyday middle-class black people going about their lives. People you might know from church, or the post office, or the bank. The ads simply acknowledge black people exist outside of media stereotypes. Jack and I are looking at one such ad from the early 80s right now, and, you know, it looks something like this. A woman in purple silk loungeware opens the door to her well-tended apartment, 16A. A man stands in the hallway.

It's her neighbor from 16B right across the hall. He wears a suit, but no tie, and his shirt collar has just... the top button undone. He holds a bottle of Hennessy and two glasses. And the text above their head says, Hennessy, the civilized way to open doors. Herb's campaign comes with its own tagline, calling Hennessy the world's most civilized spirit. And listen, this ad, it works for a whole bunch of reasons. The vibe here is aspirational, but attainable. Everything from the outfits to the harbored floor to the woman's apartment. There are also fresh flowers, some sculptures on the cabinet. She's wearing swooping purple silk, comfortable but elevated. This is attainable

classiness. An attainable classy is the sweet spot for any aspiring lifestyle brand. There's a not so subtle coded message underneath this civilized language. This is the drink for a civilized society, a society that celebrates black excellence. A society where the company you buy from understands your worth. Herb understands all of this. These brilliantly simple and yet really complex ads, they run through the 1960s and beyond. Generations of African-American consumers are going to come to recognize Hennessy as the brand that sees them. On 1871, Hennessy is officially the largest cognac producer in the game. But Hennessy is just getting warmed up. Their true glow-up is still to come. Searchlight Pictures presents The Roses, only in theaters August 29th.

From the director of Meet the Parents and the writer of Poor Things comes The Roses, starring Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman, Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Samburg, Kate McKinnon, and Alison Janie. A hilarious new comedy filled with drama, excitement, and a little bit of hatred. proving that marriage isn't always a bed of roses. See The Roses, only in theaters, August 29. All right, Jack, toss on your tie, because to understand Hennessy in the modern era, we have to start with a few corporate mergers, because in 1971, Hennessy joins forces with Moet and Chandon,

the Old World Champagne brand. You heard us mention Moet earlier because, like Hennessy, the champagne got registered as medicinal during Prohibition, thanks to their shared importer and distributor, Shefflin & Co. So it is fitting that after this merger, the newly formed Moet Hennessy acquires Shefflin just a few years later. Officially uniting a team that's been working together since Alexander Hamilton's Day. And this is what brings us to the next pivotal year in our story, 1987. 1987 is the year Moat, Tennessee, ties the knot with another French luxury giant, Louis Vuitton, in a $4 billion merger. And voila.

We get the luxury giant Moat Tennessee Louis Vuitton S.A., better known as LVMH. Now today, Besties, you'll know LVMH as the massive luxury company, the owner of brands from Givanchi to Tiffany to Saffora. Their market cap, it's nearly $275 billion. And their CEO, Bernard Arnault, is the richest person in Europe, number six richest in the world, as of this recording. But in 1987, Bernard is a 38-year-old former real estate exec with a ruthless streak and a knack for restructuring businesses. Now, Bernard does have his work cut out for him on this whole LVMH merger. You see, he's triangulating between the squablin CEOs of Moette Hennessy and Ler. Louis Vuitton, with each executive jockeying for control of the luxury giant.

You know, it's basically like succession, but with a lot more cashmere. And in the end, the one with the biggest percentage ownership turns out to be Bernard himself. In fact, by 1989, he's pushed out the Louis Vuitton CEO entirely and has basically running the show with a Patec Follip on his wrist. Now, after a merger of this size, a good question for Hennessy is, how do you maintain your identity. After all, with different leaders come different values and priorities. Hennessy has this long, rewarding relationship with the black community. They've built up over years of trust. But now Hennessy is part of this huge European luxury group. Who knows if

that special relationship with the black community will continue. Well, funny thing, Jack, a few recording artists might know a little something about that. Have you heard this song before? That happens Let me introduce myself My name is Humpty Pronounced with the Humpty That happens to be

The Digital Underground With 1990s hit The Humpty Dance In January 1990 It hits number one On the Billboard rap singles The Humpty Dance is widely recognized

as the first song To shout out Hennessy by name But it won't be the last Because as we mentioned At the top of the show No Liquor Brand in existence has gotten more musical name drops than Hennessy. In fact, there are over 2,500 of them.

Hennessy is the most popular prop-renown in the rap lyric lexicon, baby. And here is just a tiny sampling of what's out there, including hip-hop, pop, and a little bit of country. My enemies flip when they see me drink a fit to that in the sea. They want a nose-marold model. It's in the brown bottle. I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies, and prisoners, Hennessy holders and old school in the crowd.

My illness don't come with no remedy I am so much fun without Henness I need a one dance Got a Hennessy in my head I'm rippling Hennessy That last clip by the way Also shouts out Red Bull

I love it when two products we've covered on the show Come together There are approximately 2,494 more songs that we could have used for that montage. But here's the real kicker. These are all organic Hennie name drops. They're not paid endorsements because by this point,

Hennessy is an aspirational symbol. Want proof? In 2021, there was a market study, analyzing the popularity of various booze brands on the internet. They factored in metrics like web searches, press mentions, and social media followers. That study put Hennessy right on top,

outscoring Captain Morgan, Smiranoff, Surak, you name it. According to a different study, about 80% of Hennessee customers show loyalty toward the brand, meaning those who try it would try it again. It is literally a, yeah, bartender, I'll have another one. Now, all this organic Hennessee engagement does pave the way for brand partnerships between Hennie and the artists who love it. Like NYC rap legend, Naz. In 2023, he launched an official collab with Hennessee to celebrate hip-hop's 50th birthday.

The logo says, get ready, Hennasi. with gnaws in all cats. The fact is, thanks to pop culture's embrace of this brand and their savvy mergers along the way, Hennessey is still the world's leading cognac producer today. Henney rolls out more than 50 million bottles a year. That accounts for 40% of the entire cognac industry. Last we checked LVMH's annual earnings.

Their wine and spirit segment brought in $7 billion in revenue last year, and Hennessey was the top shelf crown jewel. Or to quote rapper No Name, and he invented the capitalist for happiness in my cup. Wise words, no name, wise words. All right, but Jack, now that you have sipped that story of Hennessey, what is your takeaway? Find your VSOP.

I'm talking about building your own top shelf strategy because it's all over business today. Volkswagen has Audi, Ralph Lauren has Purple Label, Marriott has Ritz-Carlton, and Hennessee has VSOP. Having different tiers within your product line lets you capture maximum willingness to pay

even if the majority of the products and the production are the same. To reach a broad audience, you've got to have your base label, but to let fans splurge, you got to have a super label. And for mega fans, with the deep pockets, maybe a super premium label, a whole stack shelf full options. Here's what Hennessy did. They set some of their product aside to age it, they added a new label, and boom!

They sold that top shelf. shelf product at a way higher price that was pure liquid profits. Again, that was it. Just like how Volkswagen also makes Audi's on the same assembly lines, just with fancier leather and premium door handles for the Audi's. But Hennessy pioneered this whole strategy. So find your Vsop. You're very superior, as that Prince from Wales call it. Build your top shelf. What about you, Nick? What's your takeaway? How do you win the love of a community? Well, the recipe. is cert you get that you write that one down cert cert c i rt spans for consistency investment respect and time we covered a lot of beloved brands on this show but some of them go beyond

pure customer love they have a cultural connection to their communities that just transcends typical consumer products i'm thinking patagonia which has incredible love from the environmental community or ferrari with the racing community or red bull with the extreme sports Well, in all of these examples, love for the brand isn't just about the product, but it's about how the brand shows up for them. We saw this everywhere in Hennessy's history of the black community. It's Hennessy's importer, William Sheffelin, and his friendship with Booker T. Washington 100 years ago. It's his support for Tuskegee University. It's Hennessy sponsoring the NAACP.

It's Black soldiers being gifted bottles of cognac at the end of World War II. And it's Hennie's ad campaign celebrating the elevated aspirational lifestyles of black people. living on the 16th floor. You cannot manufacture this kind of connection overnight. It requires four things. Consistency, investment, respect, and then that final critical ingredient, time. Sert, sir, sir. Exactly, Jack.

Sert, cert. All right, before we go, it's my absolute favorite part of the show, the best facts yet. These are the hero stats, the facts, and the surprises. We discovered in our research, but we just couldn't fit into the story. Jack, let's uncork the first one, what he got for us. One name we have not brought up in the story yet, but cognac completionist might be waiting for, is the name Fil-Yew.

Because since 1806, the feel-you family has had a mortal lock on the job of Master Blender for Hennessy. This is the spirits expert responsible for blending the various O-to-V that make up cognac's complex flavor. Nick, get this. The first feel-you to be master-blender, for Hennessy, was Jean Filieu, who took the position in 1806. But eight generations later, a Filieu is still in the job.

Renaud-Filieu-de-Ger-on spent 15 whole years training under his uncle Jan, who spent 50 years in the title before that. We've surpassed Nepo Baby territory into full-blown family dynasty. Nick, there is no role in corporate America that's been by the same family bloodline for 200 years. That is unprecedented, baby. Well, see, I got another name that we didn't mention, but we just can't do the story without.

Josephine Baker. She's the legendary black American performer who famously moved to France in the 1920s, finding Paris much more hospitable to African Americans than America at the time. Well, in the 1950s, Hennessy actually made Josephine a brand ambassador, becoming once again that rare brand

to show their black audience, True respect. And that yet is why Hennessy is the best idea yet. And unfortunately, no Hennessy was consumed during the recording of this episode. Coming up on the next episode of The Best Idea Yet, turn on the stove, start boiling water, and shake those spice packets because we're digging into the dorm room hot cuisine. It's the story of Instant Ramen. And don't forget to rate and review the show right now!

Five Stars helps us great. and your comments could become the next episode of this show. Busta, we know you're listening. Drop that five-star review. We'd love to see it, man. Follow the best idea yet on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to every episode of the best idea yet early

and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey. The best idea yet is a production of Wondery, hosted by me, Nick Martel and me, Jack Kravichie Kramer. Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gautier. Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer.

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffon is our managing producer. Our producer and researcher is H. Conley. This episode was written and produced by Katie Clark Gray. We use many sources in our research, including The History of Hennessy Cognac by Lucy Brittner for Master of Malt. And Ebony Magazine's Hennessy's. and blacks. Straight up. Sound design and mixing by Kelly Cromerick. Fact-checking by Erica Janick.

Music supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolina Garcia for Frieson Sink. Our theme song is Got That Feeling again by Blackalac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravichie Kramer. Executive producers for Wondry are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Erin O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louis. Hey grownups, I'm Mindy Thomas.

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