After more than 35 years of educating and advising cidermakers around the world, Peter Mitchell will retire in the new year. Mitchell’s renowned, advanced-level Cider Institute of North America (CINA) course for commercial producers — Science, Practice and Quality-Assured Cider and Perry Production — will hold its last session in December 2024. Limited spots are still available.
“Peter Mitchell [is] one of the most respected sources of information, training, advice and support available in the cider and perry industry,” says CINA executive director Brighid O’Keane. “Generations of commercial cidermakers have learned from Peter at his facility in the U.K. or through CINA and training providers in North America.”
Among his vast experience, Mitchell has been an acclaimed researcher, author, cider lobbyist and cidermaker. In 2015, Mitchell was honored with the American Cider Association (ACA) award for Significant Contributions to the Cider Industry.
Mitchell’s own journey into cider production began in the 1980s and was inspired by his love of apples and his scientific background. In the early 1990s, Mitchell developed the U.K.’s first nationally accredited and certified training program for the cider industry, the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC). In the early 2000s, he spearheaded Cider and Perry Appreciation for the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM), and in 2016, he became a founding board member and board vice president of CINA.
Mitchell’s pedagogy emphasizes practical experience with a focus on quality assurance. “Seeing students and clients develop and operate successful and award-winning cider production businesses and enterprises” is among his proudest accomplishments, Mitchell says. An award-winning cidermaker himself, he always strove to practice what he preached.
As for the future of cider education and production, Mitchell is optimistic. He believes that hands-on education is fundamental to the industry’s success and he’s excited by the wealth of educational opportunities made available by institutions like CINA and the ACA, which help connect the current and future generations of cidermakers with education. Among these, he recommends educators like Steve Trussler at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute. Above all else, Mitchell stresses that cider education “must not just be an academic approach. Cider making is a practical-based vocation.”
