Free Spirit

It helps curb the cravings. But…makes for a lot of lushy vamps.” That’s a line from an early episode of TV series that became a worldwide phenomenon over eight seasons—describing vampires’ love of spirits. In the show, the two vampire brothers, Damon and Stefan Salvatore, played by Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, raise this to an art form with their consumption of bourbon. It’s also a story element that inspired Somerhalder and Wesley to start a distillery and release their bourbon, Brother’s Bond, earlier this year. ¶ The venture fits with Somerhalder’s childhood in Louisiana. On Sundays after church, he says, the adults would enjoy mint juleps, creating.