Black Button Distilling, which was founded on Railroad Street in Rochester in 2012, wants a new barrel storage warehouse on Lyell Avenue that will hold 15,000 barrels of bourbon.

After a three-month delay, the Rochester distillery and “beloved business” has finally received federal approval for it, according to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-New York.

When announced three months ago, the hope was the warehouse would be open this month, but Schumer said the plan was languishing in bureaucracy as the distiller awaited approval from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

And waited and waited, until Schumer stepped in last week and called for the official OK, which, on Monday, the senator visited Ogden Town Hall to announce to the Rochester community in person.

“They make a lot of good things and they’re growing so they want to expand,” Schumer said Monday. “Now they are open to produce barrels and barrels of new business.”

This will be the largest such barrel storage warehouse in the state, work for which can begin as soon as this week, according to Chris Wingate, account manager at the distillery.

The opening is an integral part of Black Button’s recent expansion, including a move from its original location to a new expanded production and tasting room at a 28,000-square-foot facility at 1344 University Ave., Rochester.

The barrel storage facility complements the new expanded production and tasting room and is vital to the distillery’s expansion and growth plans.

When the company got its start, four barrels of spirits were produced a week. Now, Black Button can make 40 barrels a week, Wingate said.

“We needed a place to grow,” said Wingate, who added that he and other company officials appreciate Shumer’s support for New York craft beverages.

Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy. 

This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Black Button Distilling in Rochester NY gets OK for expansion