FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 at 6:30PM
BOURBON SESSIONS AT THE RIPY MANSION featuring TROY BOLOTNICK, Founder and CEO or Filmland Spirits
Please join us for a special FRIDAY edition of Bourbon Sessions at the Ripy Mansion as we welcome Troy Bolotnick of Filmland Spirits!!
Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Troy was a creative dreamer from the start, inventing characters and stories before he even knew the alphabet. At the age of five, he fell in love with the art of storytelling after seeing his first sci-fi movie, “Logan’s Run”. The film delighted and terrified him so much that he was hooked and vowed one day to write movies of his own. After graduation Binghamton University in 1992 with a degree in creative writing and a successful track record of directing and producing community theater, he set out to Tinseltown to follow his childhood dream and became a screenwriter.
Throughout Troy’s career journey, he worked just about every job within the entertainment industry. From production assistant to editor, from grip to producer, eventually becoming SVP of America Online’s Entertainment Asylum Division (AOL). In 1995, Troy co-created and wrote the world’s first interactive episodic internet show call “The Spot”, which was eventually sold to a joint venture between CAA and Intel. The experience helped Troy realize his calling was to become an entrepreneur. Throughout his career, Troy launched six different companies, all of which were sold or merged. Most recently he served as the COO of a large publicly traded sports nutrition company.
While a lifelong spirits fan, Tory’s interest in bourbon was piqued after his college buddies introduced him to the category at a wedding a little over a decade ago. Shortly after, he went on a series of trips to Kentucky to visit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with his friend of nearly 30 years & fellow co-writer Charlie Flint (Filmland Spirits’ VP of Operations). The two nerded out for all things whiskey. On one annual pilgrimage to Kentucky to taste some of the best bourbons & ryes in the world, Troy was looking out the window of the car, admiring the lush green grassy fields of bourbon country when it hit him. He turned to Charlie and said, “We’re going to start our own whiskey brand!”
The friends became obsessively geeky with their whiskey education, learning the art, science, and business of making great spirits with the dream of one day launching a whiskey brand of their own. A few years later, Troy shared his whiskey making dream with fellow movie enthusiast and film producer, Rick Dukovny (Filmland Spirits’ Co-Founder & Member of the Board). It was Rick’s out of the box and wild thinking that encouraged Troy to actualize his latest career dream — making storied whiskeys. Combining his passion for movies, writing, and whiskey, they created Filmland Spirits for an epic next chapter in life!
When Troy isn’t leading the Filmland Sprits team or visiting distilleries, he enjoys hiking and spending time with friends and family poolside with a cocktail in-hand and a movie queued up for later. A worldly traveler, Troy enjoys visiting places where he can learn something new and get inspired to write his next story.
Troy lead a guided tasting of a special selection of Filmland Spirits award-winning products while sharing his stories and love of all things film and bourbon.
Tasting will be accompanied by light appetizers. Tours of the Historic T.B. Ripy Mansion will also be offered and a cash bar will also be available. Proceeds in excess of event costs go directly towards the continued maintenance and revitalization efforts of the Ripy Mansion.