In 1765 Richard Hennessy, an Irish officer fighting for Louis XV, founded a Cognac distillery. Soon, he was exporting to America and the Hennessy brand was born. Over the coming years, Kings, Queens and Tsars became famous customers and demand soared. Today, Hennessy is recognised as one of the world's leading spirit brands and their top Cognacs can fetch princely sums of money.

Domaines Barons de Rothschild is the organisation that encompasses several legendary Bordeaux Châteaux such as Lafite, Duhart-Milon, Rieussec and L'Evangile, as well as several other notable properties around the world. In addition to their famous wines, DBR also produce Cognac and Armagnac which has often been aged in barrels from Château Lafite.

Glenfarclas is one of the great names of Speyside. The distillery was established close to the River Spey and is surrounded by Banffshire moorland. Today, John L. S. Grant oversees a very traditional style of whisky making, started by his great-great grandfather in 1805. The meaning of Glenfarclas is 'valley of the green grass', which goes some way to describing the distillery's idyllic location.

Arguably one of the most famous of all the Scottish distilleries, Macallan whiskies (especially older vintages) have become increasingly sought-after. The Speyside-based company creates whiskies based around its 'Six Pillar' philosophy - Spiritual Home; Curiously Small Stills; Finest Cut; Exceptional Oak Casks; Natural Colour and Peerless Spirit. These whiskies are amongst the most desirable in the world today.

The now mothballed Port Ellen distillery took its name from the Islay port less than a mile away. Originally established as a malt mill in 1825, the property became a distillery in 1833 but it closed down in 1983 (having seen many different owners and changes of fortune inbetween). Today, as a result of it having closed, Port Ellen bottles are highly sought after.

Located in the centre of Campbeltown, this small distillery was founded in 1828 and today it produces three distinct types of single malts. Each of the three (Longrow, Hazelburn and Springbank) have their own character - Longrow is the traditionalist's peaty style, Hazelburn has no peat whatsoever and Springbank has just a little. These are whiskies for the connoisseur.

When Wing Commander Montgomery Collins began distilling fruit at his Wild Monkey guesthouse in the Black Forest, Germany in the '50s, he couldn't have imagined what he was starting. The area was already well known for distillation and its abundance of natural resources, so it seemed logical to create a gin using a special recipe of 47 of the region's finest natural ingredients. Robert Parker often tweets about how this is, in his opinion, the greatest gin ever made!

El Dorado is the key brand for Demerara Distillers - a co-operative founded in 1670 by a group of sugar cane producers. El Dorado was born in 1992 and ever since then, this impressive range of Guyanese rums has won countless awards. The most recent of these were at the 2013 International Wine & Spirit Competition where the 15yo was awarded 'Gold Outstanding' (the highest award) and the 21yo was awarded 'Gold'.