Location: Greater Tacoma Convention Center, 1500 Commerce St, Tacoma, WA 98402
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Check In & Coffee in the Trade Show *Sponsored by AgWest 8:15 AM – 8:50 AM Great NW Scion Exchange 9:00 AM – 10:50 AM Opening Session & Discussion Groups 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Workshop Sessions A 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch *Sponsored by Oregon Wine Board 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM Visit the Trade Show 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Workshop Sessions B 2:45 PM – 3:15 PM Visit the Trade Show 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM Workshop Sessions C 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM Cider Happy Hour in the Trade Show *Sponsored byWyeast Laboratories
All times are pacific time
Each workshop session (A, B, & C) will feature 3 or 4 concurrent workshops. Workshops focus on making cider, cider business, marketing, and growing apples.
During the Symposium attendee had 3 opportunities to attend an educational breakout session. There were four tracks to choose from: Executive, Making, Growing, and Marketing.
Making Track Sessions
Workshop Session A: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Ballroom D
Whether you’re looking to maximize sustainability or diversify your cider offerings, the world of low ABV cider is an exciting place to explore and a growing category, coming in all shape, sizes and styles. Incorporating a blend of information, tasting and Q&A, this session explores a variety of methods for achieving low ABV ciders, from fermentation control to pressing techniques to blending strategies, alongside common technical challenges and solutions. We’ll also dig into why makers pursue low-ABV cider, creative experimentation in a growing space and how businesses choose to market them to consumers.
Let’s explore esters – the aromatic compounds behind cider’s most expressive fruity and floral aromas. Through a guided tasting, participants will sharpen sensory recognition of key esters. The Fermentis team will explain how yeast choice, fermentation conditions, oxygen, and nitrogen influence ester formation. Cidermaker Adam Wargacki will share practical, production-scale techniques for enhancing and preserving desirable ester profiles. Bridging science and practice, this session provides actionable tools to intentionally shape aroma, complexity, and character in finished ciders.
Kate Pinsley, Senior Director of Cider, Innovation & Quality, Schilling Cider
Cameron Workman, Operations Systems Specialist, Schilling Ciderr
This workshop offers a high-level refresher on sensory evaluation for cidermakers at all stages. Framed through competition judging and practical quality control, participants will explore how ciders are evaluated, how to judge effectively, and how to apply sensory skills to ensure consistency, identify faults, and support confident production decisions.
Haykin Family Cider has placed cider on numerous one, two, and three Michelin starred and James Beard recognized restaurant menus. This session will examine how production decisions during cider making translates into success on fine dining menus. We will talk about how having a diverse portfolio of ciders can support by-the-glass programs and tasting menus for many unique beverage programs. Explore how the P/L differs from other on-premise wholesale channels. Additionally, we will discuss how to communicate with sommeliers about cider in a wine-driven environment. Align your cider making standards with the expectations of serious restaurant accounts and see the potential revenue that can bring.
Selling cider to restaurants can be complex. This moderated panel brings together respected beverage professionals to discuss where cider fits on today’s menus. Learn how to approach buyers, navigate pricing, understand restaurant expectations, and build lasting on-premise relationships.
Ramsey Cox, Media Relations and Public Affairs, Ramsey Cox PR
Earned media is a powerful way for cideries to build trust, visibility, and ultimately grow sales. Whether you have zero dollars or a robust budget there are steps you can take tomorrow to grow your brand awareness. In this session, Media and PR experts Lyndsay Dyk Founder & Principal, Field Day PR and Ramsey Cox of Ramsey Cox Media Relations and Public Affairs share step-by-step guidance on pitching journalists, crafting compelling story angles, and executing a successful interview—equipping cidery businesses with practical tools to generate press and maximize media opportunities once they are in front of you.
Discover how today’s cideries are evolving from tasting rooms into unique experiences. This session explores how to leverage agritourism to support marketing efforts, attract new visitors, and create additional revenue opportunities. Panelists will share ideas and experiences around reaching new audiences, creating meaningful visits, and turning those visits into sales.
Growing a cider business profitably requires more than increasing volume or reducing costs in isolation. In this session, Nick (Irvine and Company CPAs LLC) and Aaron (2 Towns Ciderhouse) take a practical, end-to-end look at the profit drivers of a cider producer.
Nick will focus on the cost side, examining Cost of Goods Sold structure, including realistic gross profit and net margin targets, and how margin discipline changes as producers scale. He will highlight common cost traps and how to use benchmarks as a strategic planning tool rather than a backward-looking metric.
Aaron will address revenue and pricing strategy, including distributor and retailer margin dynamics, price architecture, and how to position cider pricing to support sustainable profitability. Together, the speakers will explore the value of mapping gross profit thresholds to guide promotional pricing, channel strategy, and other decisions that directly impact long-term profit.
Drawing from over two decades of M&A advisory work across breweries, wineries, cideries, and distilleries, Tony Westfall and Joe Orlando have guided dozens of craft beverage producers through exit decisions and the selling process. In this interactive panel discussion, they’ll focus on asset sales, the most common exit path for cideries, and explain how they work, what buyers value, and how to maximize your return. They’ll use real-world case studies and live discussions with recent sellers to break down what drives valuation in asset sales, from equipment condition and facility leases to distributor relationships and brand equity. They’ll also cover strategic sales and lifestyle exits, helping cidery owners and operators understand which path makes sense for your operation and how to position yourself accordingly. Through candid conversation and audience Q&A, attendees will learn practical strategies to build value today. Whether you’re planning to exit next year or a decade from now, this discussion should help avoid the costly mistakes that derail deals.
Join us for an informative presentation on a collaborative experiment from a cidery and a grower. Kingston Black apples were harvested via two different methods, ground-fallen and tree-harvested, then fermented separately. The team will share laboratory and sensory analysis as well as harvest labor data. Attendees will taste the cider trials and evaluate which method is ideal for their production process.
This session will focus on IPM and nutrient management approaches that can improve sustainability and be integrated across all forms and scales of orchard production. Organic-approved methods for controlling common pests and diseases, their limitations, and their integration into existing IPM programs will be discussed. Sustainable, organic-approved nutrient management across different apple orchard systems, addressing costs while accounting for soil, watershed health, feasibility, and adaptability, will also be covered. All practices discussed will be approved for Certified Organic production; they can benefit and be integrated into all production systems.
Ask the Expert
Ask the Expert
Workshop Session B: 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
You asked for deeper, more advanced content and we listened. Introducing Ask the Expert: small-group sessions where you can sit down with an industry expert to get your questions answered.
Each expert will meet with up to three attendees during Workshop Session B. Full Symposium registration and advance sign-up are required.
Register by 1/31 to access Ask the Expert session sign-ups.
Expert:
Nick Shepard, CPA / Partner, Irvine + Company
Nick is an entrepreneurial CPA who has mentored hundreds of businesses from inception through various growth stages. Nick specializes in tax planning and business advisory. Nick has a Masters degree in taxation.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
Profitability
Gross margin
Taxation
Accounting and tax issues
Structuring investors
Expert:
Jonathon Cody
Jonathan will share a very brief overview of administrative law and how regulations are adopted by an administrative law attorney.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
Pending and enacted legislation
Proposed and adopted regulations, licensing, renewal
Compliance issues with state and federal regulators
Administrative penalties and how to challenge them
Environmental law issues related to waste or contamination
Terry Smith brings expertise is in all aspects of HR, including talent acquisition and development, compensation and total rewards, learning and training, employee relations, and organizational development.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
Talent acquisition
Learning/training and staff development
Compensation/total rewards
Organizational growth/dynamics
Mergers and acquisitions
HR Technology platforms
Expert:
Alice Whitfield, Investigator, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
As a local investigator, Alice Whitfield has several years of experience in cidery investigations and assisting cideries into coming into compliance with Federal laws and regulations.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
AgWest’s Relationship Managers bring specialized agricultural finance expertise built over a century of exclusively serving farmers, ranchers, and producers across the West. We understand the unique capital needs, cash flow cycles, and growth challenges of agricultural operations. Whether you’re managing tree fruit production, expanding processing capacity, or optimizing working capital, we structure financing solutions tailored to your operation’s specific stage and goals.
Natalie can help you think through the business finance questions every agricultural operation faces. Drawing from experience across diverse ag industries, she’ll share what lenders look for and how to position your business for success.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
What lenders evaluate when reviewing loan applications
Structuring financing for equipment, facilities, and working capital needs
Building financial projections and business plans that work
Understanding loan covenants and financial requirements
Resources available for young, beginning, and small producers and succession planning
Expert:
Joe Orlando, ASA, VP of Business Valuation Services, Exit Strategies Group
Joe Orlando is the 411 and 911 of Business Valuation. Sample questions asked include: how do you go about valuing a business? What information do you need to get started? Do you value interests of less than 100%? Do you incorporate strategic value into your analysis? What are the key drivers of value in terms of multiples of operating metrics and operating margins? How can I incorporate value into my strategic planning discussions?
Expert:
Aaron Sarnoff-Wood, Co-founder / VP of Sales, 2 Towns Ciderhouse
Let’s talk about everything cider sales related including: Sales Personnel, Distributor Management and Understanding Retail Channels.
Topics, issues, and types of questions to be addressed:
Choosing your first distributor
Understanding distributor contracts
Managing a sales team
Tracking sales
Pricing considerations
Key account management
How to grow volume profitably
Experts:
Nick Gunn, BenchGraft Cider Consulting & Cider Institute
Dave Takush, Head Cidermaker at 2 Towns Ciderhouse & Cider Institute
Bring a cider or perry you’d like feedback on – whether it’s a surprising outcome, an unexpected aroma, an inconsistent result, or a success you’d like to replicate. Join expert producers for an educational sensory session, conducted as a roundtable so everyone hears feedback from multiple perspectives. Each product will be discussed for 7–10 minutes.
How to Prepare:
Bring one or two products with you which you’d like to receive feedback on. Bring at least 20 ounces per product to allow everyone in the group to taste the cider.
Discussion Groups
Tuesday morning starts with the Opening Session and three rounds of Discussion Groups. These round table discussions are designed to get attendees talking about common interests.
