Brother's Bond: How two immortal stars of The Vampire Diaries found peace with whiskey

Dover Yard. Late afternoon. A Brother’s Bond-branded London taxi idles outside, mapped for Julie’s and then The Fat Badger. Ian Somerhalder steps through wearing the hat he always wears — frontier shorthand — though the jumper unsettles the image. Handmade cashmere, close-cut. Myth above the shoulders, discipline underneath. Before the door has settled, a Londoner clocks the cab and climbs in, assuming it is free. A pause. Then: not for public use. The door shuts. The taxi remains, engine running, bottles inside.

Paul Wesley was meant to stand beside him. Illness intervened. Somerhalder handles the launch alone. “Most of the blood pumping through me is from here,” he says of England, citing a genealogy test — an accidental echo of the mythology which made them famous, the hit show The Vampire Diaries. Eight seasons. 171 episodes. Later streamed by more than a billion viewers worldwide. “People stayed for the love story. Two brothers navigating appetite and loyalty. A bond as complex as our whiskey.” The pair played the Salvatore brothers, Stefan (Wesley) and Damon (Somerhalder).