The new owner of Black Button Distilling has laid off its entire staff, including its founder, as it moves to liquidate the distillery’s inventory.
Black Button announced in September its purchase by Blackstar, a nascent liquor firm run by Kris Comstock, formerly the brand manager for Buffalo Trace. At the time, Black Button had hit hard times — it had already closed its young taproom on University Avenue and was selling furniture to make ends meet.
At the time, founder Jason Barrett thought Blackstar was a breath of life into the distillery. It may have been the kiss of death.
“In mid-October, the new owners of Black Button brought myself and the rest of the staff into a conference room and let us all go, laid everybody off,” Barrett said.
After that, Barrett said he hadn't heard from Blackstar for about a month. This past week, he was brought back on as a contractor to help sell off barrels and bottled liquor.
“What the new owners are going to do with the brand or the facilities they really haven’t shared with me,” Barrett said. “I’ve just been focused on the day-to-day blocking and tackling, and trying to help where I can.”
In the next few weeks, he said, Black Button will be selling its inventory, including full barrels of bourbon.
While the events that occurred with Blackstar are “distressing,” he said, they also aren’t unique. Distilleries across the country are struggling. He pointed to the rising cost of a barrel of bourbon and declining consumption nationwide. To wit, a February report from the Distilled Spirits Council found that from 2023 to 2024 spirits sales dropped by 1.1%, or $37.2 billion. That decline particularly struck higher-cost brands. The only segment of spirits that weren’t hit with a decline were tequila and mezcal.
For craft distilleries like Black Button, the situation is even more dire. According to the 2025 Craft Spirits Data Project, a collaboration between the American Craft Spirits Association and trade publication The Spirits Business, 25.6% of craft distilleries in America closed between September 2024 and August 2025. That’s 787 distilleries.
“We’re unfortunately in very good company with many of our friends across the distilling landscape who just find themselves caught up in these changes in what for many communities was a very successful business for a long time,” Barrett said.
Barrett said he was grateful that his staff members were able to quickly find new employment. Many of the people in production, for example, went to work for the Fairlife milk processing plant in Webster.
Black Button is the first distillery in Rochester since Prohibition and is known best for its Bourbon Cream liqueur and its line of bourbon and rye whiskies. Originally opened on Railroad Street in 2012, the distillery moved to a massive facility on University Avenue in 2023, upping its production capacity by about 10 times.
Hard times had set in by 2025, with the distillery closing its tasting room in July and beginning to wind down its operations. In late September, Blackstar swooped in to buy up the distillery. It was the first major purchase by the company.
Comstock did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the future of Black Button. He also declined an interview when Blackstar announced its acquisition of Black Button, but did offer a one sentence email, dated Sept. 26.
“Jason will run Black Button as always,” Comstock said. “I’m here to support him. And down the road we hope to expand the brand portfolio in new markets.”
The layoffs would occur about two weeks later. It’s unclear if Blackstar will continue to use the Black Button brand.
