Hey everyone, this is Kate Snow, so happy to share with you a conversation that I had with Ian

Summerhalter, the actor, as part of my series The Drink. It's always about how you got to the

top of your field. So you may remember Ian from his roles in the Vampire Diaries, super popular

for that, and lost. But also, he's now launched a best-selling bourbon, and there's a connection between

that and what he calls a terrible business situation that he got in. He says he lost millions,

and he tells me how his wife, Nikki Reed, stepped in to save him from literally financial ruin.

You can hear many more stories of success from top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries,

you can find it all at NBCNews.com slash The Drink. That changed your whole trajectory, right?

Yes, that decision changed the entire trajectory of anything my life would ever be.

Alright, so Ian Summerhalter, what is your drink? You chose your own drink for the occasion,

right? Yeah, literally, right? I get to drink this with you, and I think, you know, other than my

child and my family, I'm more proud of this than pretty much anything in the world.

Cheers, I've got some here. So it's Brother's Bond, it's your company. You might be the first

guest on the drink to literally make your own drink. Like, didn't you basically invent this?

Yeah, Paul and I blended this literally in this room, and in my kitchen.

Paul being your co-star, your brother, on-

Paul Blessing, Paul Blessing, Paul Blessing, I've been talking about this since like season two

of the Vampire Diaries. The brothers bonded on screen over Berger, and then Paul and I bonded

off screen over Berger, and Paul likes to remind me, he's going to tolerate you, which I'm sure

there's some food. So this is, you know, been in our togetherness for 12 years.

I want to ask you about your childhood, because honestly researching, like looking into you,

to talk to you today, I don't find a whole lot about how you grew up, how you became a model.

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