By Jordan Parker I t was only six years ago that Jason Barrett was the “numbers guy” at an accounting firm in Washington, D.C. He was doing the checks and balances, but his home-brew- ing hobby landed him as the representative for some alcohol industry clients.
Jason Barrett’s family has provided some of the finest men’s suit buttons that have closed suits worn by Presidents, Popes, Kings, and Businessmen the world over since 1922. So why did Barrett leave his family’s fourth generations business, his answer is clear and simple, “I was meant for a different path.” So, he broke tradition and started to make whiskey. The lessons he had learned in his family’s factory as a kid still guide him to this day; work hard, work with your hands, make your product the best on the market, and you can’t cheat time. Although he is now in a completely different business, his distillery pays homage to his grandfather and the world he knew – where real men worked hard and drank real pot distilled whiskey. When we sat down with Jason Barrett and asked if it was a hard decision to start his own company. We learned that it was not just one decision, but a series of them along with a driving desire to strike out on his own; to make his mark on the world.
After enough time helping others’ brewing/distilling busi- nesses, Barrett couldn’t help but want to start his own.
Then began the events that would lead to the creation of Rochester, N.Y. business Black Button Distilling.
“One of my clients was Catochin Creek Distilling. They loved what they did every day. I had a tinge of jealousy and through this experience I now understood the business and production,” he said. Barrett’s initial interest in home brewing led him to learn more about the alcohol industry. He translated that knowl- edge to spirits and discovered a newfound passion for making Bourbon. “And it just so happened the laws in New York were also being re-written to make craft distilling more cost-effective.” The cost to get a license to distill went from $60,000 to $1,500 a year, allowing Barrett to open a business that just a few years ago would have been impossible. The universe had spoken.
“The state realized if they lowered the introductory license,
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JANUARY 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE 20
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