Butcher netted in the 82nd minute after the Bees had stung the home faithful with a 63rd minute opener through defender turned striker Kevin O'Connor.
In a performance that lacked cohesion, shape and good football, Notts were forced to be content with another draw with their opponents seemingly arriving in Nottingham intent on playing for the draw.
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They got it against a Notts side that showed three changes to the one that started the 3-0 Carling Cup defeat at Coventry City on Tuesday.
Returning were Paul Mayo, Matt Somner and Andy Parkinson with Jay Smith and Hector Sam dropping to the bench and Austin McCann from the squad completely.
Naming three further attackers on the bench to the three already in the ranks, it was apparent that Notts boss Steve Thompson would be going all out for a win that would get the home season off to the best possible start as he seeks a more dominant home outfit this term.
However, Notts found it difficult, particularly amongst drenching rain and swirling winds, to get any kind of momentum and throughout the game were forced to share the action with their former League One counterparts.
Managed by former England great Terry Butcher, Brentford looked a physically commanding outfit who were prepared to battle and do whatever it took to travel home with something worthwhile, and it was they who threatened most in the early stages without extending Kevin Pilkington in the Notts goal.
Instead it was the hosts who hit the first meaningful effort on goal as so called defensive midfielder Matt Somner burst through to the edge of the box to latch onto Parkinson's knockdown and hit well at goal, only to see it thrash wide.
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It was another long range Notts strike that would bring the next goalmouth action as Jason Lee turned onto a loose ball to hit fiercely towards the Spion Kop goal and it only narrowly missed the target as Hamer was left rooted to the spot.
The best home oppurtunity of the first period fell again to Lee as he got on the end of a curling Mayo centre but couldn't add to his sixteen goals from last season as he again missed the target, heading wide.
Brentford were always in touch though and were most threatening down the flanks as both Charlie Ide and Glenn Poole got decent balls into the box but with Alan Connell and Lee Thorpe missing, Brentford were lacking a killer instinct in the box.
It was Ide and Poole themselves who had Brentford's best chances in an even half of largely poor quality.
Poole blazed over Pilkington's bar on the half hour mark when in space as he avoided the challenges of Lee Canoville and Adam Tann on the right hand side of the Notts back four.
Ide's chance was easily the best of the half as he, despite being the smallest player on the pitch, rose high above Mayo at the back stick to get on the end of Poole's deep centre, only to head wide when he should have at least brought a save from Pilkington.
As the half-time whistle was blown by a referee who hadn't helped the flow of the game with a niggly approach making it stop-start all half, no shots on target had been registered with both sides surely wanting to forget the first 45 minutes.
Lawrie Dudfield would have to as the Notts striker was rightly replaced on the break after an ineffective showing, youngster Myles Weston his replacement.
Brentford were as they were, particularly in the way of time wasting tactics, which led by the end of the game to two yellow cards.
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Notts again started the better with Canoville bursting forward from right back and linking up with Parkinson before whipping a cross into the box that Lee couldn't direct properly to trouble Hamer.
It would have been fitting that a scrappy encounter would be sparked to life by a fortuitous and comical goal, but even that couldn't break the deadlock as a Somner ball deflected off an unaware Stephen Hunt on the edge of the box and nearly crept inside Hamer's left hand post.
Smith, superb both as a used substitute at Grimsby last week, and a starter against Coventry entered the action for the industrious Somner on the hour mark, Thompson again showing to the fans he wanted his side to be more attacking but he clearly hadn't heeded Brentford's warning after a strong end to the first half.
They took the lead when O-Connor, who had played right-back in the first half, found himself pushed up front where he surprisingly netted the opener stroking home from inside the six yards box after the dangerous Ide had beaten Mayo and laid the ball inside.
The poor visiting following sprang into life, and fortunately so did Notts as Smith superbly lashed a loose ball goalwards that seemed destined for the top corner only for Hamer to brilliantly push it out.
Unsurprisingly Butcher's side continued to time waste, with a controversial moment resulting at one point in two visiting players on the floor at one moment.
The so far fairly anonymous Butcher then popped up with Notts' best chance of the game as he got into the box to meet Weston's cross but despite being in space he wildly flung his foot at the ball seeing it easily caught by Hamer.
But the former Lincoln ace made amends almost immediately after as he found himself on the end of a ball after a Smith punt and he brilliantly finished with his left foot into the bottom corner.
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But it could have turned to genuine satisfaction had Hunt's volley from eight yards out crossed the line as most in the ground thought it had done.
That came from one of nine corners, this the only one to produce a shot on goal, and seemed destined for the net, as did Canoville's rebound, but the Bees somehow scrambled it away.
Brentford it was though who pushed harder towards the end but despite two corners Pilkington, as mostly in the game, was able to survive without being seriously extended.
This was true for Hamer too, and the match was left to see out a 1-1 draw.