Isaac Wolf Bernheim

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Isaac Wolf Bernheim (born November 4, 1848 in Schmieheim ; † April 1, 1945 Santa Monica ) was an American businessman who created IW Harper , a well-known bourbon whiskey brand that is now owned by the global company Diageo . The success of his distillery helped make the Louisville , Kentucky , United States area a major center for bourbon manufacturing. Bernheim was also the philanthropist who founded the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Bullitt County .

Early years

Isaac Bernheim was born in Schmieheim (today a district of Kippenheim ) into a Jewish family. His parents were Leon Solomon and Fanny (Dreyfuss) Bernheim. At the age of 18 he emigrated from Freiburg im Breisgau to the USA in April 1867 . Originally he wanted to work for an uncle in New York, but when his company went bankrupt, Bernheim had to change his plans. He became a peddler who toured Pennsylvania on horseback selling household goods. He made good sales, but when his horse died he had to quit the job.

Whiskey distillery

After the death of his horse, Bernheim moved to Paducah, Kentucky and worked as an accountant for the liquor store Loeb, Bloom & Co. He saved enough money to bring his brother Bernard Bernheim to America. In 1872 he founded his own liquor business, Bernheim Brothers, with his brother and friend Elbridge Palmer as a silent partner.

In 1875 Palmer's share of the business was bought up and Isaac's brother-in-law Nathan Uri (the brother of Isaac's wife Amanda) became a business partner and the company was renamed Bernheim Brothers & Uri. Because the company was close to waterways, it grew rapidly.

In 1888 the company moved from Paducah to Louisville (Main Street, between 1st and 2nd) and in 1889 Uri left the business. The company returned to its original name, Bernheim Brothers, and continued to expand.

Bernheim Brothers bought the Pleasure Ridge Park Distillery in Louisville, which then operated under the name Bernheim Distillery. In March 1896, the warehouse in Pleasure Ridge Park, which was shared with another distillery, was destroyed in a fire. The loss of the building was covered by insurance, but alcohol tax on the lost whiskey was collected and negotiations dragged on until the end of 1897. The courts ultimately ruled that due to the destruction of the whiskey before it was sold, the tax was not payable. The new distillery (on the north side of Main Street, near 2nd) started operations in April 1897.

The company began producing a premium whiskey called "IW Harper". (The "IW" in the name may be an abbreviation for Isaac Wolf, a different name was chosen for marketing reasons, Harper was the name of a well-known horse breeder). During Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), Bernheim Brothers was one of ten distilleries allowed to produce bourbon because they had a license to produce bourbon for medicinal purposes.

In 1937, a few years after the end of Prohibition, Bernheim sold the business to the Schenley Distilling Corporation .

philanthropy

Isaac Bernheim became a philanthropist. He founded Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in 1929 on 57 square kilometers of land in Clermont, Bullitt County , 25 miles south of Louisville and 5 miles from Shepherdsville . He bought the land in 1928 for $ 1 per acre ($ 247 / km²) - the low price was due to the fact that the land had become relatively worthless after mining for silver. Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape architecture firm began designing the park in 1931, which opened in 1950. Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest was donated to the Kentucky residents as a foundation.

Visitor Center in the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Clermont, Kentucky

Isaac Wolf Bernheim and his first wife, Amanda, are buried in the Bernheim Forest. (After Amanda died, Isaac married her sister Emma Uri Levy and lived with her in Denver .) George Bernard Gray's Let There Be Light memorial marks the graves of Isaac Wolf and Amanda Bernheim. Bernheim's daughter, son-in-law, and several other family members are also buried there.

IW Bernheim's tomb in the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

Bernheim was a well-known member of the Jewish community and was active in the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the American Jewish Committee . With donations he made the first library possible at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati . In Louisville, he financed the first home for the Young Men's Hebrew Association , as well as an extension to the Jewish hospital. Bernheim was a member of the Reform Movement . His grandchildren are following his example: his library at the Hebrew Union College has been renovated and houses valuable documents and rare Torah scrolls.

Isaac W. Bernheim also funded two statues in the Capitol's Sculpture Hall , the only sculptures that were privately funded. He also financed Abraham Lincoln's sculpture in front of the main office of the Louisville Free Public Library and Thomas Jefferson's sculpture in front of the Jefferson County Court.

When Isaac Bernheim visited his hometown Schmieheim in Germany in the early 20th century, he noticed that the place had no running water and he donated a large sum of money that made the installation of the first water system possible. He also had an old people's home and a children's home built.

The modern Bernheim distillery and the original Bernheim whiskey

In 1992 United Distillers opened a large distillery called Bernheim Distillery in Louisville (on West Breckinridge Street near the Dixie Highway ). United also owned the rights to the IW Harper brand at the time the distillery opened. United later became Diageo , which owns the brand, but no longer the Bernheim Distillery.

The Bernheim Distillery was bought by Heaven Hill Distilleries in the late 1990s after their own distillery was destroyed by a fire in 1996 and expanded to become Heaven Hill's main distillery in Bardstown . has been.

The Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey brand was introduced by Heaven Hill in 2005, named after the Bernheim brothers. Bernheim himself was inducted into the Whiskey Hall of Farm in Kentucky.

In spring 2015, Diego announced that it would restore the IW Harper brand in the USA. IW Harper Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Limited Edition IW Harper 15-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey are both inspired by the original IW Harper Bourbons.

literature

  • The Story of the Bernheim Family (1910).
  • The Closing Chapters of a Busy Life (1929).
  • Sharon A. Receveur, Tavia P. Cathacart: Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest . Butler Books, Louisville, KY, 2010. ISBN 978-1-935497-30-1 .
  • Bernd Rottenecker: Isaac Wolf Bernheim (1848–1945) - honorary citizen of Schmieheim . In: Jürgen Stude / Bernd Rottenecker / Dieter Petri: Jüdisches Leben in der Ortenau, Bühl: seitenweise 2018, ISBN 978-3-943874-25-9 , pp. 168–169.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Whisk (e) y brands page at Diageo web site
  2. ^ Reid Mitenbuler: The Jewish Origins of Kentucky Bourbon ( English ) The Atlantic . May 2, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  3. ^ A b Veach, Michael R., The Pleasure Ridge Park Distillery , Filson Historical Society , July 5, 2011.
  4. ^ IW Harper ™ Brand Returns Stateside After Two Decades Abroad - New York Times

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bernheim, Isaac Wolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Schmieheim
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1945