AceShowbiz - Ian Somerhalder downed his first alcoholic drink at the age of four. The 44-year-old actor has remembered stealing mint juleps - a bourbon-based cocktail - and drinking them as a little boy.

"I used to steal mint juleps from my family. It was the early '80s, like '81," he told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column.

Ian - who grew up in Louisiana, on a property surrounded by sugar cane - explained that bourbon was a big part of the "culture" in southern America. He said, "Those are the first memories I have of muddled mint, sugar cane and that smell of bourbon."

"Especially back then, there was no socio-economics for bourbon, so someone who was an executive of a company is going to be drinking the same bourbon as someone who is a blue collar worker, so that was really amazing, sort of this level-playing field."

Ian also explained that families used to bond during a drinking session. He said, "It's literally part of culture down there and it's really special because it's bonding. It's what so many families do and it's just special."

Meanwhile, Ian previously confessed that he used to spy on his older brother, who is seven years older than him, when he had women in his bedroom. The actor learned "a lot" about pursuing girls from his "Casanova" sibling.

He said, "He taught me a lot, and he was quite a Casanova. He used to have girls in his bedroom all the time and what I did was, I went into the bottom corner of his window and I pinched the Venetian blinds. I pinched the blinds down so I'd have a clear view. I'd go outside and I'd watch, and I learned a lot."