Black Button Distilling

Black Button Distilling is the Rochester, New York craft whiskey operation founded in 2012 by Jason Barrett — the fourth-generation grain farmer whose family agricultural background gave the distillery one of the most genuine grain-to-glass production stories in modern Upstate New York craft spirits. Located at 85 Railroad Street in Rochester, Black Button occupies a converted commercial building in the city's emerging craft-beverage district, with the working distillery, an on-site cocktail bar, and a substantial event-space program all integrated into a single multi-use facility.

The "Black Button" name comes from a family business heritage — Jason Barrett's family has been in the button-and-clothing-trim business for four generations in the Rochester area, and the brand name honors that broader family commercial history. The agricultural side of the family — grain farming — is what feeds the distillery: Black Button sources its corn, wheat, and rye directly from New York State farms, with the explicit grain-to-glass production claim referring to the genuinely short supply chain between Upstate New York grain fields and the Rochester distillery floor.

The flagship Black Button Four Grain Bourbon is one of the most distinctive craft American bourbons by mash bill — combining corn, wheat, rye, and malted barley in roughly equal proportions, a four-grain recipe that produces a softer, more complex flavor profile than the standard three-grain Kentucky bourbon recipe. The expanded range covers Black Button Empire Rye (one of the founding examples of the New York State-defined "Empire Rye" regional category), Black Button Bourbon Cream (the bourbon-cream liqueur that's become a significant volume product), Black Button Citrus Forward Gin, Black Button Cherry Bourbon, and a substantial range of seasonal and limited bottlings. The Empire Rye in particular has earned recognition in regional craft-spirits competitions.

The Rochester visitor experience makes Black Button one of the few craft distillery destinations in the broader Western New York craft scene. The on-site cocktail bar runs an active program with the full Black Button range, the production tours move through the working stills and the small on-site rickhouse, and the event-space programming hosts regular community programming, distillery dinners, and private rentals. The Rochester location anchors the broader Western New York craft-spirits route alongside Finger Lakes Distilling and the other Finger Lakes-region producers, with the city's relatively recent restaurant-and-craft-beverage scene revitalization making downtown Rochester a meaningful day-trip destination from Buffalo or Syracuse for visitors building a wider Upstate New York trip.