Description
I.W. Harper is named for Isaac Wolfe Bernheim (b. 1848), a German immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1867. Isaac’s surname was changed for use in the brand, for reasons about which we can only speculate. Nevertheless, I.W. Bernheim and his brother Bernard co-founded Bernheim Brothers in Paducah, KY in 1872. The I.W. Harper brand was introduced in 1879 and was quickly successful, winning a gold medal at the New Orleans Exposition in 1885.
A move to Louisville saw the brothers purchase a distillery which burned down; eventually they built one of their own in 1897. As business declined through the years leading into Prohibition, Isaac retired at the age of 67, in 1915. Isaac passed away in 1945; he is buried in Bernheim forest, a 13,000 acre preserve maintained by the Isaac W. Bernheim foundation.
Bernheim Brothers survived Prohibition with a license to distill spirits for medicinal purposes. The business changed hands in 1933 (acquired by Leo Gerngoss and Emil Schwarzhaupt). Bernheim Distilling Company (along with the I.W. Harper brand) was then acquired by Schenley in 1937.
I.W. Harper became Schenley’s international flagship brand, eventually being distributed in 110 countries. At some point in the 1980’s or 1990’s the brand became export only, with no U.S. presence. Veach attributes this to a desire to kill off the “grey market” mentioned by John, in which bourbon purchased in bulk in the U.S. was resold for a profit in Japan
Schenley was acquired by United Distillers (then owned by Guinness) in 1989; in 1991, the old distillery was razed and the new Bernheim distillery erected in its place. This distillery was later sold by Diageo (successor entity of the Guinness and Grand Metropolitan merger) to Heaven Hill, which runs the facility to this day.
I.W. Harper was re-launched Stateside by Diageo in 2015.
