“I remember when we launched it was like, ’80 proof? Vampire Diaries? Go to hell.’” Paul Wesley can laugh about it now, but the actor and co-founder of Brother’s Bond Bourbon (along with The Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder) knows there was some trepidation within the whiskey community about yet another celebrity brand launching.
That was 2021. Today, it’s safe to say both whiskey fans and fans of the actors’ work have come to appreciate Brother’s Bond. And the duo certainly knows their stuff: During a recent Zoom call with Wesley and Somerhalder, the two longtime friends and business partners brought up their growing supply of regenerative, organic rye, a proprietary toast profile of their barrels and an increased comfort regarding their blending prowess.
Their latest release, Brother’s Bond 7-Year Old Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey, honors the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 (distilled at a single distillery during a single season). Aged for seven years and bottled at 100 proof, it’s full of notes of brown sugar, oak spice, vanilla, cherry and cinnamon. It marks the brand’s first high-rye, three-grain bourbon mash, made with 51% corn, 39% rye and 10% malted rye. And critics have responded favorably. The expression took home a Double Platinum award at the 2024 ASCOT Awards, as well as a Double Gold at both the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (98 points) and the New York International Spirits Competition (96 points).
The Best Bottled-in-Bond Whiskeys You Can Currently Buy
Happy 125th anniversary to the Bottled-in-Bond Act, a quality control piece of legislation that still defines and shapes the whiskey industry“Ever since we came up with the name Brother’s Bond, we obviously wanted a Bottled-in-Bond,” Wesley says. With that release in mind, we spoke to the whiskey makers about growing a brand from scratch, the perils of celebrity spirits and how Captain Kirk (currently played by Wesley in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is a pretty good endorsement for bourbon.
Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.
InsideHook: I spoke with you on Zoom two years ago during the Brother’s Bond launch. You guys were pretty successful right out of the gate.
Paul Wesley: Brother’s Bond launched probably bigger than most independent brands that don’t have somebody like Diageo pushing them. We have this tiny team, but when we launched online, we sold a million dollars worth of bourbon in 24 hours. But even though we launched in a big way, we have a lot of growth. We’ve also expanded into the EU and Canada.
What’s been the biggest challenge of being a new brand?
PW: Being a celebrity brand. People think it works to your advantage — and in some ways it does. It certainly puts more eyeballs on you. We have a great social media following. But bourbon is a very specific category. Unlike vodka or tequila, it’s not so much about the marketing and how cool it looks. It’s more about the taste. And by the way, I say that as a picky tequila drinker! But bourbon is pretty much the American-made spirit, and I feel like you have to earn the respect of the community.
Ian Somerhalder: Paul’s a big celeb right now, but let’s be honest — some people are rooting to tear you down. There are a lot of celebrity spirits out there, but this isn’t that thing. We didn’t slap our names on the bottle. And this is definitely the toughest thing we’ve ever done. Success in the entertainment industry is tough, but being an entrepreneur is a very specific way to live.
Your mash bills are pretty interesting. The Bottled-in-Bond is only 51% corn and has some malted rye.
PW: We want to distinguish ourselves. We find the blends that we create may be unique also happen to taste the best in terms of what we like. It’s our palate.
IS: Also, this got 98 points! [Laughs] That’s pretty damn close to 100. It’s hard not to sip on because it’s so damn good.
You guys have known and worked together forever. Do you ever disagree on anything?
IS: On whiskey? Never. Just everything else. No, the cool thing about Paul and I is we did this show for eight years that now over a billion people have seen. And when you work with someone that extensively in 172 episodes, that’s eight years of your life, right? You develop this amazing trust with one another and also a shorthand.
PW: We definitely never disagree on whiskey, thank god. But we do have different approaches when it comes to what to focus on. It’s a necessary dialogue.
You mentioned the high scores and the awards. Do you feel like the bourbon community has come around to you?
PW: Bourbon lovers maybe looked at us and said, ‘Well, you know, this is a celebrity brand, and what do they know about bourbon?’ And suddenly they’re like, ‘Holy shit, this cask strength is one of the best. Oh my god, this Bottled-in-Bond is just through the roof,’ you know?
And then it was like, these guys care. They blended it themselves. We went to Bourbon & Beyond and we’re sitting there with [whiskey legends] Wes Henderson and Rob Dietrich and they’re like, ‘fuck, this is good, man.’ And suddenly it becomes, hey, these guys aren’t full of shit.
IS: Once you taste it and realize we’re climbing over rows of barrels, we know what floors in the rickhouses deliver what flavors…we’ve come a long way from blending whiskey in my kitchen six years ago.
You’re still working in entertainment, but far less than usual. Is that side fading away?
PW: I’m still working, and I’m going back to Toronto in March to shoot Star Trek. But do I have the same desire I did when I was in my 20s? Definitely not. I’m picky. But I love creating art, and I think I’m pretty good at it. And I think it helps Brother’s Bond. And doing this together, if Ian has something, I can cover it, and when I have something, he can cover.
IS: I’m grateful Paul is out there. Captain Kirk is a mantle role. It doesn’t get much bigger than that. Also, Captain Kirk drinks bourbon, which is kind of badass. I finished my last show five years ago, and I’m just raising little ones and building companies.
PW: When we were on The Vampire Diaries — yeah, it’s like a vampire teen soap opera, but when you realize one in eight people in the world have seen it, it’s got a level of nostalgia. This might be controversial, people might yell at me, but I think the real love story of The Vampire Diaries was the brothers, and that clearly has carried through.
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