We’re Brandon Cline and Katherine Vance — Brightwood’s founders and cider makers.
Katherine was born and raised outside of Chattanooga, TN, and Brandon hails all the way from the California coast. We met in Virginia over a decade ago, and we’ve been cooking, fermenting, and creating together ever since. After moving to Nashville in 2015, we soon found ourselves experimenting and making small batches of cider in the basement of our rental home on Brightwood Avenue. At first, we had just a couple of buckets bubbling away. Next thing we knew, we had almost sixty batches going at once — determined to find the best blend of apples and the most compatible yeast strains.
Fast forward to 2019 — we took the leap and launched Brightwood Craft Cider here in Nashville. We’ve worked hard on our process and blends, and we have been so excited and humbled by the support we’ve felt from chefs, bar tenders, shop owners and customers in town. The experimenting continues — can’t wait to bring more varieties to the good people of Nashville!
We’d like to give a quick shout-out to the guys over at Potter’s Craft Cider in Virginia. Theirs was the first locally-made, handcrafted cider we had ever tried — and we were blown away. They inspired us to start making cider, and they continue to be great friends and mentors.
Here’s to friends, family, the great city of Nashville, and damn good cider. Cheers!
