Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder starred as the iconic Salvatore brothers on the hit show "The Vampire Diaries." Although the series ended in 2017, the duo’s brotherly bond remained strong and the pair created and launched their own bourbon spirit, “Brother’s Bond Bourbon.” Wesley and Somerhalder joined Cheddar News to discuss.

'The Vampire Diaries' Stars on Launching Their Own Bourbon Brand

Welcome back to cheddar news rap inspired by their friendship, both on and off screen, Vampire Diaries stars. Ian Somerhalder and paul Wesley wanted to create something. They both love bourbon. The actors came together to launch their own version of the classic spirit while supporting a cause that's near and dear to both of their hearts. I spoke with Ian and paul about their brand brothers bond bourbon and how it's helping the fight against climate change. Take a look. We had this shared love of this spirit and we've really been talking about this since really, since season two, but we were, you know, I was 31, he was 27. What do we know about starting an alcohol for him? Um what do we know now, what do we know now? We know it's midget more than we did before. Just it's just a smidgen, but that's really the genesis of this. Like this shared passion. I'm from Louisiana um he's first generation first generation polish, but he was living down in Atlanta, like you lived in Georgia and all we did was drink brown spirits. I mean we drank coffee and water and I would add bourbon to the coffee and the water, but well I actually have a bottle here, I'm gonna pour myself a drink as well. But Paul, can you tell me about these bourbons? I heard there are two different types while I have a taste. Well we have right now we have to release is happening. We have, we have a cast strength which just came out. This is our, this is winning many, many awards. It's 115.8 proof, it's straight out of the barrel unfiltered uncut. You know, this is like the purest of the purest form and then this is our flagship, which is our 80 group, which is um you know, sort of gets complex. It's also winning awards, but it's more approachable. It's obviously less of a, you know, high alcohol content. So it's for, you know, a lot of people who have never drank bourbon before um will try this and say, I can't believe I actually like bourbon. Um and then people who are big bourbon connoisseurs will try this and say, oh wow, it's got the complexity and I love it as well. So this is kind of the best of both worlds, Everything right? Something for everyone, bourbon is an american spirit. It's the true american spirit. It's bourbon can only be made in America and at the end of the day, uh that is what our characters rank on the show, right? But also it's just you know, living in the south, you know, the which is the birthday bourbon, you know, this is like, this is what we would bond over. I mean it's like, you know, look tequila and all that, like it's great, but it's made, you know, it's not an american, ultimately it's really not an american spirit. And for us like, you know, this is, you know, this is just the truest reflection of who we are, what I love about this is Brothers Bond is committed to supporting the environment, fighting climate change? I know those are issues that are important to both of you. Why is this cost so important? Well, because it's when we were producing, we were doing the years of living dangerously James, Cameron said this too, this is the single greatest story of our time. There is no, there is no greater existential threat to humankind than climate disruption. Doesn't matter where you believe it came from or where you think it's going uh there is a way to reduce carbon in the atmosphere which will then in turn help balance out the climate and sure, I mean we talk about this all the time, sustainability is very important, right? But we have transitioned into this in our company and our ethos of the company not just bringing people together but not just giving back the idea is you have to do what's called bio sequestration, you have to bio sequester carbon in the atmosphere from the atmosphere under the ground. The only way to do it unfortunately is regenerative agriculture, that's it. So and we're you know, and we're obviously four grains in our bourbon that we created like you know rye, corn, wheat and barley and so regenerative agriculture is so such an obvious thing to do since we are a grain and agricultural agricultural company, there's so many celebrities that start their own liquor brands, one, why do you think that is? And how does your brand stand out from the other companies out there, Celebrity, you are a big celebrity. I'm just trying to keep up with you, Captain Kirk bro, your celebrity, trying to keep up with you buddy. There is a lot of celebrity brands out there, it's pretty overwhelming. I mean you know we always talk about this the there's a lot of celebrity but I'm not naming any specifically, but there's a lot of brands out there where you know, literally they'll just put their name on the bottle, right? Like they're like they're you know, a a spirit is created and they'll be like, well we need someone to, you know, endorse this. So then they'll like, you know, contact whomever and they'll slap their name on it, that's great for us. The thing that really distinguishes us is literally the mash the liquid inside the label, the name, the design, the cork, the glass. I mean I'm talking every detail was created from the ground up by me and by this guy over here on our team and so we literally created this from the ground up. And so I think that is a huge distinction. It's just not that's not the norm. I don't think when it comes to these quote unquote as you said, you know, celebrity brands? I think that's what really sets us apart very quickly we have to talk Vampire Diaries only because we've seen so many reboots happen. Any chance, you know, your fans want to know any chance of a reboot for me? I had a great run as a vampire, It was wonderful. Um and now in my old age I've hung up my vampire hat and you know, unless it's steven Spielberg and he calls me on my cell and he's like paul, I need you to play this vamp where my next I think that would be like the the one exception. But otherwise my my vampire days are over. How great were these guys? They were my favorite vampires by the way, Ian Somerhalder Helder, excuse me and paul Wesley, co founders of Brothers Bond bourbon.