HAMPTON, Va. — Brent Miles, former Head Cidermaker of Sly Clyde Ciderworks and original Head Cidermaker at Seattle Cider Company, announced that he is starting a new venture — Brown Hat Consulting. Brown Hat will provide consulting for the craft cider industry, specializing in helping new cideries, as well as breweries looking to expand into cider, navigate the start-up process.
“American craft cider is still young, but those in the industry with the most experience are running their own companies,” Miles said. “They are often willing to help newcomers in small ways, but they won’t work in depth with their potential competitors. My experience will allow me to help the next wave of cider entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls, make great cider, and position their businesses and brands for success in the increasingly competitive marketplace.”
Miles has an accomplished tenure in the new wave of craft cider. He wrote the Seattle Cider business plan, developed their range of popular ciders and managed all aspects of production from the company’s inception in 2013 until he left in 2016, when the company had grown to 20,000 barrels of annual production. In 2017 he began working with the owners of Sly Clyde Ciderworks (Hampton, Virginia). They tasked him with launching their cider business; he developed and produced all the recipes, planned the production facility and tap room, worked closely with their designer on brand development and packaging and sourced all equipment. After almost a year of planning and construction the production facility opened in April 2018.
“We are excited to see Brent impact the US cider market through his new company,” Doug Smith, Sly Clyde co-founder said. “He has been a tremendous partner helping us launch Sly Clyde, bringing important industry experience that we couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. We are pleased to be the first client of his new company and we look forward to watching him strengthen craft beverage startups throughout the country.”
Brown Hat’s suite of services will include: financial forecasting and analysis, cidermaker training, fermentation guidance and troubleshooting, facility planning and design, recipe development and ingredient sourcing, brand development and positioning, distribution navigation, sourcing used and new equipment, as well as compliance and tax reporting.
About Brown Hat Consulting
Brown Hat launched February 2019 to provide an expert consulting resource for the cider industry. Based in Virginia, but available to help with any project regardless of location. Email inquiries can be sent to brent@brownhatconsulting.com. For more information visit www.brownhatconsulting.com, or follow Brown Hat Consulting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.