Drawing from over 35 years of practical experience, Peter is a highly qualified and internationally recognised authority in cider & perry production. He is a professional trainer and presenter, acts as an advisor to clients across the world, is an EU (CiderWorld), UK and USA competition judge, an author and an award-winning producer in his own right.
In 2015, he received the prestigious United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) award for Significant Contributions to the Cider Industry.
Peter runs his own specialist training and consultancy business – Mitchell F&D Limited, which includes the highly regarded Cider & Perry Academy. Up to September 2018 and at the Orchard Centre at Hartpury, Gloucestershire, UK, Peter had his own demonstration commercial production facility (Hartpury Process Limited) producing Out of the Orchard products. This facility, which incorporated an analytical laboratory, was operated as a model of best practice and was also used as an ‘incubator unit’ to assist clients with business and product development work. After the production facility was sold in 2018, the company re-invested into a ‘state-of-the-art’ laboratory and pilot production facility to focus on research work in cider production.
Peter has twice been Chairman of the Three Counties Cider & Perry Association (TCCPA) in the UK and a founding member and Vice President of the Cider Institute of North America (CINA). He also currently serves on the Technical Committee of the UK’s National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) and, previously, its Training Group, where he took the lead role in developing and establishing the acclaimed NACM Foundation Certificate in Cider & Perry Appreciation.
As Vice President of the Cider Institute of North America (CINA), he has helped steer the organisation in taking a lead in the development and operation of certificated training courses for the Industry in North America and for other countries throughout the world.
Photo © Peter Mitchell
