Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley met at a fang fitting.
That’s not as strange as it sounds – the two were getting ready to play brothers in the TV series “The Vampire Diaries.” But what happened next did suggest that there was something right about casting these two as inseparable siblings.
Before shooting the first season in Georgia, they decided to get apartments next to each other so they could easily rehearse even when not on set. So they met up that first morning to go apartment hunting. “We were wearing the same T-shirt, jeans, boots and Ray-Ban sunglasses, all by accident,” Wesley recalls.
“And our rental car was black with tinted windows and shiny rims. When we showed up, people thought we were the Blues Brothers,” Somerhalder adds with a laugh.
That bond has stayed strong, and this spring, four years after the series ended, the duo are launching Brothers Bond Bourbon, a unique line – with 65 percent corn (the traditional minimum is 51 percent) and 22 percent rye, for a sweet and spicy mix – which they created themselves.
They spoke via video about the project on February 11th, which they call “Founders Day” because it was one year to the day after they finally found the perfect blend. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. How did this project come about?
Wesley: On the show, we drank quote-unquote bourbon, but it was iced tea. So off-screen I started craving it. I needed a real bourbon after we’d finish shooting, so Ian and I would go grab a drink. We’ve been drinking bourbon together for more than a decade and this project reflects our taste buds.
Q. How long ago did you come up with the idea?
Wesley: It was ten years in the making, but back then we were working 15 hours a day on the series.
Somerhalder: Creating a bourbon requires a tremendous amount of patience – which we don’t have. But in the last two years, we went obsessive. It took us over a year to find the exact blend. Just the barley and wheat balance took a really long time. It took four or five months for us to dial that in.
We’d be in my kitchen with beakers and different types of water and 30 different bottles, going crazy. My wife [actress Nikki Reed] would come downstairs and say, “I love you and I know you’re passionate, but you have come to sleep.”
Wesley: She was talking to me, by the way.
Q. What was one unique thing about your process?
Somerhalder: Your first sip of bourbon is never going to be your best. You don’t know what’s on your tongue: Salt changes the taste, different meats, vegetables, vinegar, things change your palate. It’s your second sip that’s really special. So we were aware of that but also my dad taught me that you’ll recognize differences in place – your flavor profile changes depending on where you are. He eats outside even when it’s cold.
So we were tasting it in a lot of different places. I was drinking in the garage, in my bedroom, in my car in the driveway.
Q. Did you come close to giving up?
Somerhalder: We wouldn’t compromise and drove each other crazy.
Wesley: We complement each other. I’m the eternal pessimist and he’s the eternal optimist. I think everything’s a disaster but Ian kept saying, “We’re going to get this.”
Q. When you found the ideal blend did you know it right away?
Somerhalder: We did, we were outside and we looked at each other and said, “This is it.”
Wesley: But then I said, “Let’s take an hour and come back to it.” And when we came back we said, “This is definitely still it.”
Q. Did you both want something similar out of a bourbon?
Somerhalder: We pretty much have the same palate. We wanted what is called “equal sensory proportion,” which is where you experience all the grains. It’s super complex but you get all that flavor in one sip with a little hint of sweet on the back and then it just goes away.
Q. What’s the key to your balance?
Somerhalder: We keep our mix of wheat and the barley a secret. But we knew we wanted a lot of rye, it’s the warm, the spice and it gives the bourbon a level of viscosity. Anything over 18 percent rye is considered high rye and we’re at 22. But you can’t have too much rye or it gets too spicy. And then the corn is the sweet, which helps find that equal sensory proportion, so we could experience every grain together.
Q. What about the strength? Yours is 80 proof.
Somerhalder: Paul and I talked about this for a long time and we realized, “Life kicks you in the teeth, bourbon should not.” So we created an 80 proof bourbon instead of a 90 proof one, which makes it super approachable and easy to drink.
Wesley: When you take a sip of our bourbon, it’s nothing but enjoyable, with others – even ones I like – you take a sip and a few seconds after you have a weird feeling, but you say, “Oh that’s just bourbon.” Ours has a smoothness at the end of it…it’s kind of dangerous, honestly.
Q. Did you enjoy the other side of the project, putting together a business, creating the design elements, and so on?
Wesley: Forming and building a company is not easy but I’m always trying to do something new and I find this whole thing to be so fulfilling and stimulating.
Q. Ian, you were executive producer of the film “Kiss the Ground,” about regenerative agriculture. How important was it for you to be able to make your bourbon in a sustainable way?
Somerhalder: The climate crisis can paralyze you but there is a way to stop and reverse climate change – you do it through large-scale agriculture. Through biosequestration, we can grow plants and draw down the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing it safely where it belongs…in the soil. Healthy soil leads to a healthy planet and it makes you feel there is something that can be done.
