Black Button Distilling will unveil their new distillery to the public tomorrow, July 15th.
Black Button Distilling has been making whiskey and other spirits in downtown Rochester, New York since 2012. Its curious name was coined by founder Jason Barrett, who worked at the family button factory in Rochester in his youth. Since Barrett is color blind, he used to joke that if he ever ran the family business, he could only make black buttons. In the end, he didn’t pursue buttons as his calling but instead chose whiskey.
While Black Button is an urban distiller, it sources most of its grain from farms within 50 miles of Rochester. It’s thus highly committed to local grains, and is one of the six founding members of the Empire Rye Whiskey Association, the group that aims to bring rye—both the grain and the liquid—back to New York State through a newly proposed standard of identity that requires mashbills of at least 75% rye, all of which must be grown in-state.
This month, Black Button Distilling comes of age, taking a giant step forward with the unveiling of a new distillery. It’s just a couple of miles across town from the old facility, which is now closed. (A farewell party was held there in late May.) The ribbon cutting for the new site took place on Tuesday, July 11, and grand opening festivities were held on July 15th.
While the older distillery had the charm of a vintage industrial building, it was very small at just 5,000 square feet. The new location, modern and sleek, is nearly six times larger at 28,000 square feet. The new facility also has impressive visitor amenities, including a 4,500 square foot tasting room and retail space, with increased seating capacity able to be used for large events.
Output will skyrocket in line with far bigger scale: the mash tun at the old facility was 1,500 gallons, compared to 6,000 gallons now. From eight fermenters of 720 gallons each, the upgrade is to five fermenters at 6,000 gallons each, with room for nine more in the future. Annual production will quadruple, from 1,000 liters of pure alcohol (LPA) to 4,000 LPA
Barrett says that although the original distillery is closed, its equipment will be put to use at the new facility, mainly to make experimental batches, while the new equipment will be busy meeting demand. The idea is in line with what many distilleries are doing—keeping a separate space going for experimentation.
