Black Button Distilling celebrates 10 years of grain-to-glass spirits

Jason Barrett admits he did not know what the future would bring when he launched Black Button Distilling.

“When I sat down and conceived what it would look like 10 years later, I really didn’t know what that would be,” said Barrett, Black Button’s founder and president. “But it’s been so much more than I hoped for.”

Now in its 10th year, Black Button specializes in farm to still products, using unique and all-natural ingredients from local farms.

Distributed in more than a dozen states and Japan, Black Button Distilling has crafted over 2 million bottles of award-winning spirits in the last ten years.

Barrett, a 2020 RBJ 40 Under 40 honoree, was 24 years old when he founded Black Button in 2012, Rochester’s first grain-to-glass distillery since prohibition, near the city’s public market.

Among its most popular products are a Four-Grain Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Citrus Forward Gin and Bespoke Bourbon Cream.

The name of the distillery has familial roots for Barrett, who spent a lot of time while growing up working with his grandfather in the family’s button factory in Rochester.

He initially envisioned a career in the family business, which had a reputation for supplying quality products, but that didn’t end up being in the cards.

“I’m color blind,” Barrett said. “Since making nothing but black buttons wasn’t an option, I decided to honor the values of hard work, entrepreneurship and community that my grandfather taught me by pouring them into my passion for crafting spirits.”

As a farm distillery, agriculture has been key at Black Button. All the ingredients used in Black Button’s spirits are sourced from New York, and when possible, from Western New York, Barrett explained.

In 2017, Barrett took an additional step to make that happen, launching Black Button Farm and Forestry, the distillery’s own 19-acre plot where juniper berries, white oaks, various herbs and spices grow.

The distillery also received major backing in 2019 when Constellation Brands acquired a minority share in the business, a move that opened more opportunities for the distiller.

Barrett credits much of the distillery’s success to a dedicated workforce of nearly 85 employees, as well as offering top-quality products and finding unique ways to compete in the market. An example of the latter is its Lilac Gin, in tribute to the popular Lilac Festival held annually in Rochester’s Highland Park. The formula landed Black Button a fan base across the country.

And while the business slightly shifted its focus during the pandemic to making much-needed hand sanitizer for the community, it is now looking at ways to continue its upward trajectory.

Growth is projected for Black Button, Barrett noted, with new variations and flavors of popular products in the works that are expected to be released by year-end.

There are also plans to move to a larger facility near its current Railroad Street location in 2023. The move will increase Black Button’s space substantially, to 20,000 square feet from 5,000 square feet.

Barrett said the expansion should keep Black Button well positioned for the future.

“We’ll have a really nice second decade home,” he said.

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