Paul Wesley on How He and Ian Somerhalder’s Brother’s Bond Bourbon Isn’t a “Celebrity Bulls***, Cash Grab”

When COVID-19 hit, Paul Wesley, like most of the world, found himself at home with nothing to do. So, he and his then-neighbor, The Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder, started working together to bring a new kind of bourbon to the market.

Their effort to kill time led to the creation of their now-very successful alcohol: Brother's Bond Bourbon. Since launching in 2021, the brand has become one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands, according to Whisky Advocate, which claims they've shipped more than 100,000 cases across the U.S. over the last three years.

Wesley and Somerhalder portrayed beloved onscreen brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore, respectively, on the hit CW show, bringing their close relationship offscreen for Brother's Bond Bourbon.

When creating their whiskey brand, one of the most important things to the co-stars-turned-business-partners was that their product was authentically theirs and not just theirs in name alone. Not only do the men hand blend the bourbon themselves but they are also involved with every single step of the process of the company — so much so it's almost become their full-time job while acting is more of their freelance gig.

The Star Trek actor credits The Vampire Diaries fans for the company's fast-growing success, noting that he didn't truly realize how successful the show was until their bourbon launched.

"We're in a way kind of tapping into the nostalgia of the show that everyone misses because it's just unbelievable how popular the show is," Wesley tells The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive interview. "We launched this thing, and I think people were like, 'Oh my gosh, it's the two brothers.' They immediately had that emotional connection to it, and I think that's why it took off, but I didn't realize how potent that was."

While the multihyphenate is grateful for the fans' investment in Brother's Bond Bourbon, he hopes the alcohol can expand and find its own fandom among longtime whiskey drinkers, who for the last 20 years have relied on Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve or any other brand.

"What we want to do is really double down on what Brother's Bond is and core values and really market it that way. Right now, a lot of our consumers are fans of me and Ian. What we want to do is speak to the bourbon drinker," the Tell Me a Story actor says. "Our next phase is targeting the male consumer, [showing] that it's not just a sort of celebrity bullshit, cash grab, and that we're very serious about it."

Below, Wesley details what makes Brother's Bond Bourbon unique, how he's balancing business and acting, his creative inspirations and more.

Paul, talk to me about Brother's Bond. Why did you want to launch a bourbon brand, and why this one?

Ian Somerhalder and I did a series for eight years together, and we sort of became known as the brothers who are fighting over a girl for eight years, and the only time they're bonding is when they're having a bourbon. So, for us, we've had bourbon on our minds for eight years. Aside from that, we shot the show in Georgia. After work, if you want to wind down and have a drink, I fell in love with having bourbon. I think it was because, as I was shooting, in my mind, I was like, "Ugh, I wish this was real bourbon," but it was actually iced tea. So I went home, and I started dabbling in, sort of trying different bourbons and tryi ng to get a feel for my palette and what I liked and really fell in love with the process and really fell in love with the notion of it being really the only true American spirit. Bourbon has to be made in America. COVID hit, and I was sitting around at home as everyone else was. Ian was as well, and he lives down the street — or he used to — not by design, and then we said, "Hey, let's do this. Let's create a bourbon." So, it became this COVID project that, frankly, I didn't think was going to be as A) popular and B) time-consuming.

Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder Nick Tininenko/Getty

You touched on this a bit, but how did you and Ian come up with the idea?

It was something we had talked about doing. Again, when COVID hit, I think Ian was potentially trying to figure out a way to do some wine brand that never took off. I don't know what happened. It never came to fruition. And then, he called me and said, "Hey, I actually have a great CEO of a liquor company, and I have some money we can raise, and we found some barrels we can blend." And that was it. Then, I came up with the name Brother's Bond. I'm gonna go ahead and take that credit. I think I did a pretty good job because I think it like really captures the spirit of the company. For us, when you drink our bourbon, it's a way of bonding. And so it's our bond, me and Ian, Brother's Bond onscreen, offscreen. But also it's like, we want this to sort of feel like a community experience. We want to introduce bourbon to people and they have a bourbon together, connecting over whatever, whether they're friends or family or on a date. We want that to be a connective experience like it is for us.

How is Brother's Bond different from other bourbons on the market?

It's hand-blended by me and Ian. So, it's very unique. It's not like somebody handed us a blend and the bottle and they say, "Oh, great. Just put your names on it, and you guys can endorse it." So Ian and I blended this ourselves, meaning it's curated and crafted to our taste. So when people are trying Brother's Bond, it's something that we actually created versus it's just some random product, which frankly speaking, is the majority of celebrity-owned brands — with some exceptions. And so we really pride ourselves on that.

We also are one of the first bourbons to come out with a fully regenerative whiskey, meaning, I think, 85 percent of the grains in our regenerative whiskey are made of regenerative grain, meaning they're carbon negative. They capture carbon from the atmosphere. They use special farming methods that really is the way bourbon crops should be — no-till [farming] and certain things like that. We were one of the first brands that have a carbon-negative bottle of bourbon, which is pretty unique. I don't know if you know much about bourbon, but we're a four-grain company, which is kind of rare. Bourbons are typically three-grain, and even our rye is four-grain. I'm getting a little nerdy on you, but yeah, stuff like that.

No, that's OK. That was actually one of my questions. How would you describe Brother's Bond to someone who doesn't know a lot about whiskey? I just started drinking it, so I don't know much.

So, essentially, you're taking grains — corn, rye, wheat, barley — you're putting them in virgin oak barrels, meaning they're completely untouched. Then, you essentially char the barrels to get some of that oaky texture and that sort of smoky feel. You let it sit there. Our bourbon is aged a minimum of four years. It sits there. We pull out the blends, we re-blend it again to create our own perfect mash bill, and we put it in a bottle. So when you're drinking it, you're drinking these varieties of grains that have been carefully aged in these oak barrels. It's a little bit like wine but a totally different ABV and different process. But it's that sort of thing that takes a lot of time, a lot of patience. It's very capital-intensive. You have to store the barrels. Every bourbon tastes different. They all have unique, what they call, mash bills.

Brother's Bond Bourbon co-founders Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. Courtesy of Brother's Bond

Why was it important to you and Ian that your bourbon be made from regenerative agriculture?

Ian takes full credit on that. I didn't know anything about it. Ian is very passionate about regenerative agriculture. He did a movie called Kiss the Ground that's on Netflix, and it's all about that movement. It's a way of, sort of trying to curb/eliminate the environmental devastation that comes from all the carbon we're emitting into the atmosphere. I think it was Woody Harrelson who narrated it. Ian was in it, and so I watched the documentary, and it just was natural. We were like, "Well, we want to give back. We're starting this company. We should have some sort of charitable cause. We need to have something." And then it just made perfect sense. We're a grains company. We're an agricultural company. So it's a perfect fit, as opposed to something else that we're not related to.

You all launched in 2021. How have you evolved as a company as a bourbon since then?

Oh my God, it's been such a learning curve. I've never launched a company before, and I've never been involved like this. Hindsight's 2020. I would have done probably 40 things differently, but we've adapted. We've entered this new phase. We've welcomed new team members. We already have an identity, but I think what we want to do is really double down on what Brother's Bond is and core values and really market it that way. Right now, a lot of our consumers are fans of me and Ian. What we want to do is speak to the bourbon drinker, who's always for the last 20 years, drank — I don't know, I'm picking a random brand — Maker's Mark or, whatever, Woodford Reserve and have them go, "I want to give this a shot. I want to try this." And I think, for us, that's really our next phase is, targeting the male consumer, that it's not just a sort of celebrity bullshit, cash grab, and that we're very serious about it.

How do you sort of take your creativity as an actor and a director and apply it to Brother's Bond?

That's the most rewarding aspect. My whole life, I've never done anything other than acting and directing and producing, and I'm always in the entertainment industry. Consumer goods and products, it's a totally different thing. But I think if you can kind of find moments of creativity in that, whether it's, "Well, what's our identity, how do we market it?" Even design, we're redesigning some of our labels. It's just like, what's the emotion associated with the product, which is very much like, what you sort of put into a character. You're like, "Well, what's the emotion? What's my arc? What am I? How is the audience connecting with me onscreen?" You have to kind of think in a similar way. It's like, how is that consumer connecting with this bottle when they have it in their hand? That's an experiential thing.

How are you prioritizing and balancing your business ventures with your entertainment career?

Definitely, for me, neither takes a priority. I mean, it's one of these situations where, with acting, it's very much a freelance job. For example, I'm going off to shoot season four of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in February, and they know that. So, I've accounted for that time, and I'm committed to that, and Ian's gonna take over some of my duties, and I have other team members. I need to be in front of the camera. I need to do things, as far as finding characters. That, for me, that's rewarding. I've done it since I was a child. I've literally been doing theater since I was in third grade, and so I have to continue doing it. And also it feeds the product. If I'm doing well, then the company's thriving as well, because I have more eyeballs on me, I suppose.

What are some brands you're taking inspiration from when it comes to Brother's Bond?

Hm, well, I mean, I don't know. They're all very different. But like, if we're talking about the alcohol space, the ones that I don't take inspiration from, I will not mention. But, for example, when I first started the brand, I noticed Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul had a mezcal, and I happen to know them pretty well. They're both friends of mine, and I remember I reached out to Aaron about launching a bourbon brand, and he was so generous with his time and gave me some really wise words of advice. He was like, "There never should be a moment where you're not pushing your baby and talking about your baby. It has to be part of your DNA, and it has to really become something that's a part of you." It's not just like, "Oh, I have nine brands and an endorsement deal with this and that, and that's one of them." It has to really become part of your DNA. And that's what those guys do that I think really makes them stand out. I think they've done a phenomenal job in really committing to the mezcal, and I sort of took a little bit of advice from Aaron and tried to do the same.

What about creative inspirations? I know you've partnered with Lovesac before.

It's funny because when I saw KidSuper and Lovesac were collaborating, it kind of reminded me a little bit of like taking what could be just the regular bourbon brand and adding the element of me and Ian. With that, we bring a certain perspective that perhaps a typical bourbon maker or whatever wouldn't necessarily think of. Lovesac, they've been around forever, and they have their core things that work, and then suddenly you have this designer coming in, who doesn't typically do furniture, and he's reshaping and reinventing things. I love collaborations like that. That's like a perfect blend of art meeting commerce in many ways. And that's sort of what I admire about about their collaboration.

Whisky Advocate noted that Brother's Bond is one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands right now. When you all launched it three years ago, did you expect it would take off in this way?

I didn't. I didn't realize how wildly successful The Vampire Diaries was, and I think a lot of the nostalgia and connection was that this was our first project together since the show ended, and we were again brothers, even though we're not in a show again. We're in a way kind of tapping into the nostalgia of the show that everyone misses because it's just unbelievable how popular the show is.

To this day, I can't walk down the street without somebody asking me about it or be in an airport. It's just everyone from different ages — whether it's a young girl, a guy in his 40s, basketball players come up to me. It was a very specific time, COVID, people were sitting at home, kind of reflecting on things, and then suddenly we launched this thing, and I think people were like, "Oh my gosh, it's the two brothers." They immediately had that emotional connection to it, and I think that's why it took off, but I didn't realize how potent that was.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore in 'The Vampire Diaries.' The CW/Courtesy of Everett Collection

Absolutely. I was very late to The Vampire Diaries party, but I've been watching it now, and I get it.

You're late. You're a decade late. (Laughs.)

I know. (Laughs.) But I made it. How does it feel to see people support it in this way?

It's awesome. When it becomes part of your regular life, and you see it, that's when it's cool. I remember the first time I saw Vampire Diaries on an airplane on the TVs, and I was like, "Oh my god, so cool." It's that kind of thing. If you walk into your favorite restaurant or bar or something, and all of a sudden you see it, you're like, "Holy shit. Whoa. I did that. I created that. Now it's there." Seeing it at an airport or something, that's the kind of stuff that I get a kick out of it being me, discovering it out of nowhere somewhere.

So, when you see it at a bar, do you always go for it, or do you try other things too?

Yeah, you have to support the account. Absolutely. Honestly, even if I don't drink it, even if I don't feel like drinking, I'm gonna order multiple Brother's Bonds, and tip the staff well, and thank them for supporting the brand.

How is the best way to drink it? Would you say straight? As a cocktail?

I think everybody has their own palate, their own taste, their own level of experience with bourbon. My mom would never drink it neat. My mom loves it in a cocktail that we created called the Mystic Charmer [Brother's Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey, lemon juice and honey syrup, topped with Ginger Ale]. She loves. My parents had their 45th wedding anniversary a few days ago, and they were just making those drinks for everybody. It was hilarious. I drink it on the rocks or neat. It also just depends. We have multiple skews. So we have our 80 proof, which is certainly just like you could put on the rocks. My girlfriend loves it on the rocks, and she doesn't typically drink bourbon. Then you have like, cask strength, which is like 115 proof, and that is something that I can drink it neat, and I can drink it on the rocks, but if you're not really somebody who's used to that, you should maybe cut it with a little water and put it in a cock tail. At Wally's, for example — I'm just picking a random account; I don't know if you've heard of Wally's in L.A. — they make a cask strength old fashioned. That's phenomenal with Brother's Bond. There's different ways to do it. Everyone has their own thing.

Old fashioneds have been my go-to drink for about a year now, but only some places make them good.

That's true. That's an art within itself.

How would you like to continue to expand this brand moving forward?

Look, I want to first, really, have a good grip on, again, my loyal consumer, my consumer that is not going to that is, "This is my bourbon. That's my go-to. I'm gonna buy that for my bar." And so just build that loyal base. I'm looking for long-term commitment. It's like I'm on a dating app, that is what I really want to win over those bourbon drinkers and then build a community. Build a community of people that understand our cause, whether it's giving back — we donate a portion of all of our sales to Kiss the Ground — whether it's just the taste profile, or they love the aspect of bonding with someone, whatever. Just nurture that further and then expand. We just launched online in Europe. I want to go to then hit Europe hard, retailers and on-premise, and then I want to hit South America, just really make Brother's Bond a legacy brand that I can give to my unborn child — or dog.

I'm sure your dog would really appreciate it. What are some other business ventures you'd like to explore — if any?

I hadn't thought about that. I will say I was dabbling in the notion… I'm obsessed with my dog, and I have been having some conversations about maybe creating a unique dog brand or dog snack. That's something that I'm interested in, just because I love dogs, and I think you just have to do the things that you're passionate about, and that's something that I think is an interesting category for me. That was kind of the only thing. Other than that, I'm more focused on the entertainment space, primarily.

Ian has sort of publicly announced that he's not really interested in acting anymore. He's got these supplements. It's called The Absorption Company, which is actually an amazing product. It's actually such a good product that I invested in the company, so I'm rooting for it to succeed. Health is important. Everything's a balance. Everyone knows drinking too much isn't good for you. It's all balance. And so I also love health. I just think there's people that are smarter than me that could probably do it better than me, so I'm not even gonna go there.

You mentioned earlier that you and Ian hand-blended the bourbon. How did you learn to do that?

I'm gonna give Ian full props on this one. He is the one who sort of showed me how to do it. I don't know how he figured it out. I don't know if he watched tutorials. I know we spoke to a master blender multiple times, who advised us. But you should see him. He's got these measuring cylinders. He's pouring the mash bills in different measuring cylinders, and he's adding different, "Oh, a little more rye, a little more corn." He has like 40 samples. He's trying them at different times a day. He loves this shit. He loves blending.

You also noted that a portion of your proceeds go to Kiss the Ground. Talk to me a little bit about why you want to do that right now, why that's especially important right now.

Again, it's a cause that Ian brought to us. I think every company should have some form of a charitable element. I think just pure profit… Also, it has to be organic to that company, and this was just organic to us. We're literally making bourbon out of grains, and regenerative agriculture is literally grains. And so for us, it's just like, why wouldn't we get involved in that?