I.W. Harper Bottled-in-Bond 80 Proof

We know what you are thinking: how can this be Bottled-In-Bond if it’s an 80 proof bourbon?! Everyone knows that a whiskey that’s officially bottled-in-bond has to be bottled at 100 proof. Well, you know, they simply didn’t care in Italy in the 1970s. In fact, it was prohibited to release a whiskey that strong on the Italian market of yesteryear. Many ‘bottled-in-bond’ bourbons made it to Italy in that time, most of them bottled at either 80 or 86 proof, of which this bottle is a prime example. I.W. Harper is a brand name with two real initials and a made up last name. German immigrant Isaac Wolfe Bernheim (the man behind the legendary distillery indeed, who thought his last name was not fitting for an American whiskey) came to the United States in 1848 with only $4 and a dream. His Berheim Bros. distillery opened in 1870 and their I.W. Harper brand made a quick call to fame. Up until the 1980s it was a household name nationwide and it was sold to over 100 countries worldwide. It had won numbers of golden medals. A prize the brand did not shy away from as its mentioned on many of their older releases over the years. United Distiller’s, Diageo’s predecessor, decided to pull it off the American market in the 1980s. It was revived in 2015 by Diageo.