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ENTITY · DRINK / BRAND

Hennessy

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The cognac house, and the drink most associated with the bottle era of Jamaican nightlife. Where the 1980s and 90s dance ran on beer bought by the crate, the money in a modern party moves through bottles bought whole and carried to a table — cognac and champagne ahead of anything on draught.

That is a change in what drink is for. A crate at a man's foot was a night's supply. A bottle held up in the video light is a statement, and the brands that occupy that position now are imported spirits rather than anything brewed in Kingston. The Jamaican specifics here rest on community recollection contributed to the archive.

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In stories

Story · Well supportedThe bar in the dance: how liquor built, named and paid for the music

A brewery, a rum house and a tonic wine have shaped Jamaican music as surely as any studio — and what the dance drinks has changed twice, from a crate at a man's foot to bottles held up in the video light.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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