Ian Somerhalder’s Bourbon Business Thrives Despite Past Financial Catastrophe
Ian Somerhalder owns a successful bourbon company that continues to grow. The brand had a hugely successful 2025. Just years before this, though, Somerhalder was in dire financial straits. He admitted that he was millions of dollars in debt after a business decision gone awry.
‘The Vampire Diaries’ star admitted he was millions of dollars in debt
In 2019, Somerhalder retired from acting to work on other projects. One was a clean energy company that he invested millions of his own money into. When “it all came crashing down,” he was left with eight figures worth of debt.
“I retired from acting seven years ago,” he told E! News. “I left an insanely lucrative career in television after financial upheaval from building a business that I didn’t build properly. And due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole.”
He said that he and his wife, Nikki Reed, did everything they could to get out of debt.
“Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of,” he said. “But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.”
Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley’s bourbon company is growing
The clean energy company was not the only one Somerhalder had.
In 2021, he launched Brothers’ Bond Bourbon with his The Vampire Diaries co-star, Paul Wesley. According to their website, the brand “has quickly gained acclaim with three award-winning expressions, now available in 49 states. The brand has garnered prestigious accolades, including Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Double Gold and Best in Show Finalist at the 2023 New York World Spirits Competition, Double Platinum at the 2024 ASCOT, Platinum & Best in Show at the 2023 TAG Awards, Double Gold at the 2023 International Wine & Spirits Competition and Double Gold at the 2024 NYISC.”
In 2025, the brand’s new distribution partnerships led to 40% growth. This comes at a time when the whiskey industry is facing challenges.
Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley drank bourbon while filming ‘The Vampire Diaries’
After wrapping a day of filming The Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder and Wesley drank bourbon together.
“So we could tolerate each other off-screen,” Wesley joked to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wesley said that this taught him to appreciate the liquor.
“It became this thing we did on-screen and then off,” he said. “We were shooting in the South, and I never really appreciated bourbon until I was living in Atlanta.”
Somerhalder grew up in Louisiana, so he said he’d been drinking bourbon for years.
“I’ve been drinking bourbon for 25 years,” Somerhalder said. “It pumps through my veins.”
After bonding over glasses of bourbon, they said that starting a company of their own felt like the “organic” thing to do.
