414: B Corp Certified Businesses | Solar, Candle, Coffee & Cider

414: B Corp Certified Businesses | Solar, Candle, Coffee & Cider

Author: Ria Windcaller: Award-winning Cidermaker, Podcaster | Craft Beer Columnist May 22, 2024 Duration: 1:00:19

Businesses Certified as a B Corp Stand Out!

Explore the benefits of B Corp certification with leaders from solar, candle, coffee, and cider industries. Learn about their challenges and successes in creating positive social and environmental impact.

In this Cider Chat

Enjoy this informative panel discussion led by Bridget Sprague of Revision Energy with Ted Barber of Prosperity Candle, Beth Spong of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee and Kat Hand of Berkshire Cider Project.

Listen as they share their experiences, challenges, and successes in becoming and maintaining B Corp certified. The conversation highlights the value of this business model in creating positive social and environmental impact through business.

Feature with B Corps begins at (10:04 minutes)

  • Introduction to B Corps
  • Guest Introductions and Their Businesses
    • Bridget Sprague: Vice President at Revision Energy, a solar company based in Maine and Massachusetts, B Corp since 2015, 100% employee-owned, nearly 500 employees.
  • Ted Barber: Co-founder of Prosperity Candle, B Corp since 2014, supporting refugees through handmade products.
  • Beth Spong: CEO of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee, established in 1993, focusing on organic, fair trade coffee, and recently became a worker-owned cooperative.
  • Kat Hand: Co-founder of Berkshire Cider Project, B Corp since April 2023, focused on celebrating the Berkshire region through locally sourced hard cider.
  • Why They Became B Corps
    • Bridget Sprague: To ensure accountability and maintain a high standard of business practices.
    • Ted Barber: The combination of environmental sustainability and social impact aligned with their mission to support refugees.
    • Beth Spong: To affirm their mission of social, economic, and environmental justice through specialty coffee.
    • Kat: To align their business with personal values of sustainability and accountability.
  • Challenges and Wins as a B Corp
  • Community and Marketing Impact
  • The Panel Shares their Favorite B Corps

Find a B Corp in your Area and Industry

Current list of Cider Brands certified as a B Corp

How to get Certified as a B Corp

Contact for B Corp Panel Speakers

Mentions in this Cider Chat


There’s a whole world in a glass of cider, and Cider Chat is your invitation to explore it. Hosted by award-winning cidermaker and writer Ria Windcaller, this podcast travels far beyond the bottle to meet the people who make the global cider culture so vibrant. Each conversation is a journey-you might find yourself in a heritage orchard learning the history of forgotten apple varieties, in a bustling taproom with an importer explaining regional traditions, or in a kitchen with a chef pairing cider with unexpected foods. The discussions get into the delightful nuances, too, whether that’s the semantics of what we even call this drink or how the concept of terroir translates from soil to sip. It’s not just about production; it’s about the community, the travel, and the stories that fermentation unlocks. This is for anyone curious about the craft, history, and sheer enjoyment of fermented apple juice in all its forms. So, pour a glass and settle in for a series that feels like a wide-ranging, informative, and genuinely good-humored chat with friends who happen to be obsessed with cider. You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation for every effervescent, tart, or sweet sip, hearing directly from the growers, makers, and enthusiasts who are shaping this drink’s exciting present and future.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 501

Cider Chat
Podcast Episodes
498: Heeman's Cellar | Somewhere Cider from Ontario [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:05
In this episode of Cider Chat, we visit Heeman Cellars in Ontario, where a multi-generational strawberry farm expanded into cider and mead production focused on heritage apples, terroir, and experimentation. We taste ble…
496: Liberty Ciderworks | Spokane, WA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:28
Liberty Ciderworks in Spokane, Washington is an urban cidery focused on traditional methods. While located in the city, their cider reflects deep agricultural roots. Cider maker and founder Rick Hastings ferments with wi…
495: Cider Barrels Speak | Bâtonnage & Barrel Aging [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:24
In this archive episode of Cider Chat, we go in a barrel cellar in Prince Edward County, Ontario, with Ryan Monkman of FieldBird Cider and Lee Baker of Keint-He Winery. Listening to Fermentation What Is Bâtonnage in Cide…
494: Humboldt Cider and the Historic Orchard of Albert Etter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:53
In this episode of Cider Chat, we hear from Tom Hart of Humboldt Cider Company, located in Eureka, California along the rugged Pacific coastline behind what locals call the Redwood Curtain. We also discusses preserving t…
493: Cider as a Sport | Sidra in Asturias (Archive Edition) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:28
What is Asturian cider? Asturian cider (sidra natural) is a traditionally fermented apple cider from Asturias, Spain, served through a high pour (escanciado) and shared socially in small servings called culines. This epi…
492: Absolem Cider Company | Maine Cider Energy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:23
This episode of Cider Chat explores the growing Maine cider scene through Absolem Cider Company in Winthrop, a farm-based cidery helping shape New England's evolving cider identity. Located on a 60-acre farm in Winthrop,…
491: Revisiting Randall Grahm | Cider Exploration Without Hesitation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:35
An early conversation that explored possibilities cider was only beginning to consider. As Cider Chat moves toward its 500th episode, we revisit conversations from the earliest seasons, taking a long view of the moments…
490: Let Cider Lead [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:32
An editorial on leadership, scarcity, and why cider no longer needs to borrow authority from beer or wine. In Let Cider Lead, host Ria Windcaller steps back from interviews to offer a clear-eyed reflection on the state o…
489: Natural Cider Production Seminar | CiderCon 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:53
Natural cider is often misunderstood as funky, volatile, or flawed. Recorded live at CiderCon 2025, this seminar reframes natural cider as a philosophy of low intervention, balance, and intentional care, not a free pass…