IW Harper

[dsample]

Need to find some IW Harper. I understand its only sold in Japan now. Anyone have a bottle they are willing to trade. Thanks.

[smokinjoe]

I'll ask the same question that Jeff (Mozilla) asked you two years ago, that you didn't answer. Which age and proof Harper are you looking for?

[cowdery]

I'd like to try some current-production I. W. Harper too. Diageo, which owns the brand, doesn't distill any bourbon. They buy new make from a couple of different distilleries and age it at the old Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Diageo took it off the U.S. market when it started to do well in Japan, because it was cheap here and expensive there so a gray market developed. I wonder if Diageo is considering bringing it back?

[BourbonJoe]

Isn't it available in the Washington/Oregon area? I remember Wade getting me some when he lived up there.

Joe :usflag:

[cowdery]

Isn't it available in the Washington/Oregon area? I remember Wade getting me some when he lived up there.

Joe :usflag:

Maybe. I recall it being available in Virginia. And, of course, the I. W. Harper Gold Medal is still around the U.S. as a dusty.

[BBQ+Bourbon]

I know of a couple handles of faux tax strip IW Harpers that I believe are 80 proof. The low proof is why I didn't buy them.

[dsample]

Do you know when Diageo acquired IW? Does that mean the pre and post Diageo will taste different. Or does the aging casks produce a similar taste?

[Josh]

Do you know when Diageo acquired IW? Does that mean the pre and post Diageo will taste different. Or does the aging casks produce a similar taste?

Diageo has had IW Harper ever since Diageo has existed. The difference is not really of ownership, but of distillery. Diageo no longer owns the Bernheim distillery that made IW Harper. So they have to buy whiskey from different distilleries to put into Harrper, as Chuck said.

I haven't ever compared the old and current Harpers but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that they do taste different.

[CaptainQ]

Isn't it available in the Washington/Oregon area? I remember Wade getting me some when he lived up there.

Joe :usflag:

No, I have never seen it and it's not on the WA state list.

[cowdery]

Harper was owned by Schenley which became part of what is now Diageo in 1987.

[bourbonv]

I doubt I W Harper flavor profile has changed in the last 20 years. It was being made elsewhere while the distillery was being rebuilt and by the time Bernheim re-opened they had a glut of aging whiskey in the warehouse. I don't think there was much Harper made at Bernheim before it was sold to Heaven Hill. I suspect that Diageo is using the same source for making Harper now as they did in the early 90s.

Mike Veach

[dean_martin]

I gotta Harper question that's been buggin' me. Is I.W. Harper the "Old Harper" referred to in the movie American Graffiti? A half-assed google search turned up some info that suggested there was an "Old Harper" long before the time period of the movie, maybe even pre-prohibition. Anyone know if there was a particular bottling of Harper known as Old Harper in the 50s to early 60s?

[DanG]

I've had the Harper pictured here at my favorite bar here in Freiburg, Germany:

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-1108.aspx

I recall it being tasty, but I had had quite a few beers before I ordered the whiskey so I can't remember it very well.