Black Button Citrus Forward Gin

The taste of a grown-up summer.

In 2012, Jason Barrett was a 24 year-old working in his great-grandfather’s button-making factory in Upstate New York, just like four generations of his family. But he was made for a different path. Before the year was out, he started his small-batch distillery operation in his home town of Rochester. But he is sentimental enough to have named his new rebel business after the family tradition — Black Button Distilling. A few years later, in 2018, Black Button managed to purchase its own farm with the idea not only to begin producing their own ingredients for their line of Gins, but to grow oak trees in order to make their own casks. Today, the guys at Black Button have developed a wide range of unique products including a few Gins and Bourbons, an interesting "Bourbon Cream" Liqueur, Vodka and other Spirits.

Jason likes Gin. He likes it a lot. But this rebel also thinks that Gin shouldn’t "hit you in the face with a Christmas Tree." To him that means that the juniper needs to be there, but should take a back seat to some of the other botanicals. So in addition to their floral "Lilac Gin," they have added Black Button Citrus Forward Gin to their line-up with an emphasis on orange zest and local hops. It seems like a small thing, but the difference really works — so much so that Food and Beverage Magazine named it the "Official Gin of Summer."