The I.W. Harper brand was started by Isaac Wolfe Bernheim in the late 1870s. It was produced for most of its life largely on the Louisville site of the Bernheim Distillery. The Schenley company owned the brand from 1937 to 1987, when United Distillers acquired Schenley. The Distillery was replaced in 1992 with a new, modern one on the same site. In 1999 that distillery was sold to Heaven Hill after their fire. The brand is currently owned by Diageo and was sold only to the export market for many years, until it was reintroduced to the US market in early 2015.