Iron Smoke Now Owns Its Corner of Parce Avenue, and the Bar Is a Big Part of How It Got There

"They helped us get started back when there wasn't even a paved road leading to our facility." Iron Smoke co-founder Stephen Brown said that about the Village of Fairport in the Fairport Office of Community and Economic Development's announcement this October. He was describing 2013, when the distillery first looked at space in the old American Can complex.

Thirteen years later the road is paved, the neighborhood is full, and Iron Smoke has stopped paying rent. On Oct. 1, 2026, it closed on the 20,000-square-foot building at 111 Parce Ave. it had leased since 2014. The timing is what makes this more than a property transfer. Craft distilleries across the country are closing faster than new ones open. The ones holding on lean hard on the part of the business Fairport residents already know well: the bar, the stage, and people coming through the door.

What changed hands on Oct. 1

The Rochester Beacon reported that Iron Smoke paid $1.75 million for its manufacturing space through an entity called 59 Parce Ave Fairport LLC. The Beacon cited Monroe County property records. The seller was American Park Place LLC, which owns the roughly 400,000-square-foot former American Can Co. complex around the distillery.

The purchase is part of a larger plan:

• $3 million total investment, which includes renovations to modernize the manufacturing space and raise production capacity
• 18 jobs retained and six new positions as operations grow
• Sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions plus a property tax abatement, arranged with Fairport's development office, according to the Beacon

This is not the first time the village has backed the distillery. When Iron Smoke moved to Fairport in 2014, the Fairport Local Development Corp. made a low-interest loan toward an $850,000 project covering renovations and equipment. In 2018 the agency lent $150,000 toward a $380,000 equipment purchase. Fairport's development office told the Beacon that employment at the distillery nearly tripled after those investments.

According to the Beacon, owning the building gives Iron Smoke more control over its long-term costs and makes it easier to put money into equipment and renovations. That control counts for more in a shrinking industry.

A purchase made against the national current

The Beacon placed the deal alongside numbers from the American Craft Spirits Association. Craft spirits sales fell in 2025 for the third year in a row. Volume dropped 8%, and sales value fell 3.7% to $7.3 billion. As of August 2026 the association counted 2,131 active craft distillers, 6.6% fewer than a year earlier, and closures outnumbered openings for the first time.

One figure in that data rose, and it connects directly to Parce Avenue. The share of craft spirits sold directly to consumers at distilleries grew from 14% in 2015 to 26% in 2025. That means roughly one bottle or pour in four is now sold where it was made, close to double the 2015 share. A distillery with a busy room on site is drawing on the one part of the business that is growing.

Iron Smoke's leaders describe getting ready for this early. Ron Kirshner, co-owner, chief operating officer and controller, said in the OCED release: "We recognized the shifting tides in our industry early and took deliberate action. By applying lean manufacturing principles and simplifying our operations, we significantly reduced our burn rate."

"This business isn't for the faint of heart, but with an extraordinary team, incredible partners, and a whole lot of unfinished business, we're not resting on our laurels. We're just getting warmed up."

Tommy Brunett, CEO and co-founder, in the Fairport OCED release

The room is part of the business plan

A distillery that earns more from visitors needs a reason for them to come back on an ordinary Tuesday. Iron Smoke has built two. The World Famous Watering Room is a fully licensed bar pouring the distillery's own spirits along with other drinks, including 22 beers and two rotating taps. The Sideshow is its space for live acts and events.

Here is the posted schedule:

Bar tastings come in three sizes: a $20 regular flight, a $30 premium flight and a $5 splash flight. Tours cost $10 per person and must be booked in advance. The distillery asks for a week's notice.

Late November on the Sideshow calendar

The calendar shows what keeps the room busy. These are the listings from Friday, Nov. 13, through the end of the month, as posted on Iron Smoke's events page:

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Friday after it both have shows. Those are two nights when a lot of people are home with visiting family and looking for somewhere to take them.

Three bottles from the rickhouse for the 15th anniversary

Iron Smoke is marking 15 years with the Barrel House Collection, a limited three-bottle series. The distillery's online shop lists them like this:

1. 5-Year Maple Finish Bourbon Whiskey, $74.99
2. 8-Year Aged Double Oaked, $94.99
3. 10-Year Aged Straight Bourbon Whiskey, $129.99, listed with a "Reserve Now!" option

The 10-year was a lucky find. "Our master distiller was moving barrels around in the rickhouse and found some absolutely fantastic 10-year-old bourbon," Brunett said in the OCED release. Aged stock is something a smaller distillery can only build by staying open long enough. The collection shows what 15 years in business, 12 of them on Parce Avenue, has produced.

Parce Avenue grew up around the distillery

The building Iron Smoke now owns has a long history. The Beacon reports that the American Can Co. factory dates to the 19th century. It started as a shoe factory, housed other manufacturing, later became a can plant, and closed in the late 1980s. When Iron Smoke moved its distillery here in 2014, it brought new activity to what the OCED release called "a largely underutilized portion" of the complex.

"When Iron Smoke first opened in Fairport, this area looked very different," Johnna McCooey, executive director of Fairport OCED, said in the release. She credited the distillery's decision with helping build "the momentum for redevelopment that followed."

That redevelopment is next door at The Cannery, 25 Parce Ave. In September 2026 its property manager described the building as fully occupied with retail, dining and local businesses. The names include:

• Tin Cup Social, an upscale sports bar in Suite 150 that hosts group events
• Country Roads, in Suite 160, with food and live-music events
• Faircraft Brauhaus, which Rochester Business Journal identified as a Cannery anchor and which promotes weekly Friday cask releases
• D1 Training, with adult and youth training classes

Hours at these businesses can change, so check each one's own site before you go.

The festival that came home to Perinton

Iron Smoke's reach now goes past Parce Avenue. Brunett helped launch the Hoochenanny Whiskey Festival in 2023 with Sean McCarthy of McCarthy Tents & Events. The Beacon reports that the event moved from Geneseo to Camp Eastman in Irondequoit in 2025, then to Center Park West in Perinton this August. Along the way it was renamed the Hoochenanny Festival and widened its focus beyond whiskey.

The Perinton edition ran Aug. 14 to 16, 2026. Grateful Web reported that it drew more than 18,000 people to 23 concerts, along with a World of Whiskey area featuring 40 brands and more than 140 spirits, food vendors and artisans. The festival pairs live music with spirits tasting, the same combination the Sideshow and the Watering Room offer every week on Parce Avenue.

Parce Avenue says a lot about how Fairport's old industrial buildings found new lives. If you'd like to talk through how the Parce Avenue area or other parts of Fairport and Perinton fit the way you live, Lalla Fitzpatrick is happy to share what she knows. Let's Connect.