OFN
  • Our Work
    • What is a CDFI?
    • Key Priorities
      • Affordable Housing
      • Financial First Response
      • Climate Change & Resilience
      • Healthy Communities
      • Native Finance
      • Persistent Poverty
      • Racial Equity
      • Rural Development
      • Small Business
    • Impact Stories
    • Impact Data
  • Investing & Giving
    • Why Partner with CDFIs
    • Invest in CDFIs
    • Invest Through OFN
    • Investor Resources
  • Members
    • Join OFN
    • CDFI Connect Community
    • Take Action
  • Public Policy
    • Partnering with the Public Sector
    • U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund
    • Public Policy Communications
    • Take Action
  • Initiatives
    • Current Initiatives
      • CDFI Community Investment Fund
      • Economic Justice Partnership Fund
      • Finance Justice Fund
      • Good to Grow CDFI Investment Fund
      • Grow with Google Small Business Fund
      • Native CDFI Awards
      • Ned Gramlich Award
    • Past Initiatives
  • About
    • About OFN
    • Mission & Vision
    • Our Team
    • OFN Board
    • OFN Training & Events
    • OFN Careers
    • OFN Financials
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Press Room
    • CDFI Locator
    • CDFI Industry Job Bank
    • CDFI Resource Library
    • Public Appearances
    • CDFI History
    • About CDFIs for Clients

Quick Links

  • CDFI Locator
  • Blog
  • OFN Training & Events
  • Join
  • CDFI Connect Community
Hawk Knob Hard Cider and Mead, NCIF client
24th
August
2017
Lewisburg, WV

Growing Brewery Trend Gets an Upgrade From a Pair of Appalachian Entrepreneurs

August 24, 2017

Client: Hawk Knob Hard Cider and Mead

Client Location: Lewisburg, WV

CDFI: Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF)

CDFI Services Provided: 

Financing and technical assistance

Financial and Social Impact

  • Two Appalachian natives start up a small business in rural West Virginia

Many great ideas are hatched over drinks. For Josh Bennett and Will Lewis, their great idea was the drinks themselves—cider and mead, to be exact. These two Appalachia natives found each other at West Virginia University and began brewing together as a hobby. Over the years, they realized they had a good product on their hands. And with cider’s growing popularity but no other cider producers in West Virginia, they took a chance at starting their own business.

Bennett and Lewis needed a little help getting Hawk Knob Hard Cider and Mead off the ground, and turned to The Conservation Fund’s Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF). NCIF first provided assistance with business plan development through its Value Chain Cluster Initiative (VC2), which helps strengthen food and farm businesses in West Virginia.

NCIF then loaned Hawk Knob much needed working capital to purchase equipment and start-up costs. In 2015 Hawk Knob officially opened as West Virginia’s first cidery, and its ciders and meads are now sold at their facility and at restaurants, shops and festivals throughout the state.

Tags: Manufacturing, Rural, Small Business, Technical Assistance, Working Capital

Share post to Facebook
Share post to Twitter
Share post to LinkedIn

Opportunity Finance logo - white

  • About OFN
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • OFN Training & Events
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • CDFI Locator
  • Invest in CDFIs
  • CDFI Connect Community
  • CDFI Industry Job Bank
  • Press Room

Copyright © 2023 Opportunity Finance Network. All rights reserved.

  • Terms of Use
  • Sitemap