Black Button Distilling cuts ribbon on new location on University Avenue

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Black Button Distilling held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday morning ahead of the grand opening of its new location on Saturday.

The new distillery and tasting room will open at 1344 University Avenue. The 28,000-square-foot facility will boost Black Button’s output from 1,200 barrels per year to 4,500 barrels per year. It will also add 20 jobs to the distillery within the first year.

Black Button has been open for almost 11 years and founder Jason Barrett said the new facility has been a long time in the making. Black Button is the first craft spirit producer in Rochester since the prohibition era.

Barrett said he started with just himself and now has grown to over 80 employees. He said there were many challenges to get to this point but it has all been worth it.

“This is the culmination of thousands and thousands of decisions and hours of work,” he said. “I’d like to say it was the finish line but instead, I really think it’s the starting line as we start the next chapter of what Black Button is capable of.”

With the new facility, the tasting room space will grow from 1,500 square feet to 4,500 square feet. The tasting room opens on Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.