Nick Gunn is a native of Oregon, born and raised in Eugene. In 2000, Nick earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies with minors in Biology and Geology from the University of Oregon. With a passion for sustainable agriculture and fermentation, Nick planted a cider apple orchard with his wife Mimi in 2003. Shortly after in 2004, Wandering Aengus Cider was born with a goal of producing world class european styled ciders as well as breaking ground on new american styles. Nick is a past president of the Northwest Cider Association and has spearheaded projects such as the “Cidermakers Toolkit”, a wiki to help cider professionals get their business off the ground. Currently, Nick is the founding Board Member of the Cider Institute of North America, and continues to offer consulting to startup cider companies through his company BenchGraft Consulting.

Megan Faschoway is a cidermaker at Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse that was born and raised in Cloverdale, BC to a long line of farmers. Following her own path from working with money in Vancouver, to a monastery in Connecticut, where she fell in love with the rhythms of the land and fermentation process. In 2020 she moved to Victoria, BC to further pursue her path in the cider industry. Megan completed the Foundations course through CINA and received her Apprentice Cidermaker certification that same year. She is currently working towards her Advanced level and in 2023 she won the Peter Mitchell Award for Educational Excellence.

Kira Bassingthwaighte was raised in Missoula, Montana and developed a deep appreciation for food and beverage early on in life. In 2009, she ventured out East for culinary school in New York’s Hudson Valley and it was here that she fell in love with fermentation, the world of apples and cider. The Rocky Mountains called her home to Montana where she began distilling at a local distillery in 2013 before she found her home as the cidermaker with Western Cider in 2017. In 2020, she received the Peter Mitchell Award for Educational Excellence and joined the Cider Institute of North America‘s board of directors in April 2022.

Dan Pucci is the author of American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage (2021 Ballantine) covering the historic and modern contexts of apples and cider in the United States. In 2017 he founded Wallabout Hospitality, a New York State-based consulting and hospitality company. Wallabout works with small and medium sized organizations in many aspects of food, beverage and hospitality. He was the beverage director at Wassail, New York City’s first cider bar and restaurant. He lives in the Hudson Valley.

Gabe Cook is The Ciderologist – an award winning cider expert changing the way people think and drink cider. He has more than fifteen years’ experience within the global cidery industry, working in the UK, New Zealand, Norway, the US and beyond. Gabe has worked for all sizes and types of cider maker, from traditional farmhouse producers, all the way up to the world’s largest. He has even managed to present a bottle of cider to the Queen (RIP). As well as providing world class consultancy to cider makers and cider sellers alike, Gabe has written two books – 2018’s Ciderology (Octopus) and 2021’s Modern British Cider (CAMRA Publishing) – as well as countless articles for regional, national and trade media. His authority on the fermented apple is confirmed by his role as Chair of Judges for the International Cider Awards, and most crucially as the creator of Europe’s only cider sommelier (pommelier) training.

With over 20,000 hours of experience on the business side of the specialty beer industry, from field sales to digital marketing to regional management, a BA in Marketing from Texas State University at San Marcos, and more than 15 years of experience in the service industry, Julie Rhodes is an authority on beverage sales, marketing, sales team management, distributor partnership management, supply chain logistics, and customer service. She is the owner of Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions, an educational services and consulting company that teaches sales, marketing & distribution management strategies to craft beverage professionals.

Åge Eitungjerde grew up in the center of Balestrand (Holmen), but was as often as he could with his grandfather in the orchard. He remembers the fruit blossoming as walking between freshly washed sheets. The smell from the crates of Gravenstein apples in the cellar was a childhood memory that would not let go. And in 1989, Åge and his family moved back to Balestrand and took over the orchard in Solsmyri. Åge is a qualified nursing teacher. He later realized that it had to be possible to do something more with the healthy apples than to send them off into the big machinery, where the best still ended up in the shop, but most of them were used as filler in an anonymous household juice. Åge started Balholm Fruktpresseri in 1996 and was the first to press apples into super healthy, cloudy fruit juice in bottles and get them out in stores, and that long before the concept of local food had been invented. He is passionate about the variety of fruit drinks and has managed to make many tasty types of juice, cider and fruit wine. In 2021, he was awarded the national “Ingrid Espelid Hovig” Food Culture Award; for 25 years of efforts to promote Norwegian drinks. He also makes cider with cider that doesn’t turn out quite as planned – and thus it becomes a good apple or plum dram from the distillery.

Over the last years, Cider from Hardanger has become trendy. And Gjermund Åkre and his wife Arita are one of those who contributed to the rising popularity of this specific cider region along the Norwegian fjords. Under their brand name EDEL, Arita and Gjermund produce apple juice, liquor, and Hardanger Cider. Gjermund has a masters in industrial logistics and a background in the oil industry but chose to return to the family farm in Nå where he grew up. They run two fruit farms – one at Måge and one at Åkre. Fruit forms the basis and foundation of the production of juice, cider, and fruit distillates, and there is a high focus on producing unique and intense flavours from the fruit. They work with traditional Hardanger fruits, as well as lesser-known varieties and fruits that will help promote breadth in the production of cider and fruit distillates. There is a strong focus on sustainability and utilizing resources; the production of fruit distillates is the result of a desire to use cherries and plums that would otherwise be thrown away. These raw materials are now transformed into distillates.

At the same time as Olav Bleie started studying chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bergen (UiB) in 2001, he took over his father’s orchard. Then he was 50 percent fruit farmer and 50 percent student. At a later stage, after finishing his bachelor and master degree, he dropped out of his doctorate in the USA to start focusing 100% on cider production on the family farm in Hardanger. Olav Bleie started Alde Sider in 2014. At the family farm, they have a long history of cider production stretching back several hundred years. Olav continues old traditions and conveys a history and culture that has deep roots in Hardanger. The interest in fermentation and cider production was always strongly present and with a scientific approach he developed his own style and laid the foundations for producing and selling high quality and award winning cider. Now he hopes to build something for several generations to come.

Cody Fague is a co-founder & Creative Director at CODO Design. Since 2009, he’s led branding efforts within the food and beverage industry, and spends his days helping craft breweries rebrand and redefine their foundational positioning, developing brand strategy, identity and internationally-recognized package design that sells more beer. He has personally led the branding, or rebranding, of more than 75 breweries to date. He is a co-author of CODO’s latest book, The Beyond Beer Handbook, and co-hosts CODO’s Beer Branding Trends Podcast.