A crisp, refreshing pint doesn’t need to contain beer. Hard ciders in Oregon — often made with apples grown in the Willamette Valley, Columbia River Gorge and Southern Oregon — are another way to celebrate seasonal bounty. Bright and flavorful, and sometimes a little funky with wild fermentation, Oregon cider can be bold-flavored or light and low in alcohol. Oregon’s booming cider scene has also earned accolades for its brews at top industry events like the International Cider Awards. Here’s a look at a few of the state’s standout cideries.
Crafting Wild Apples Into Cider on the Coast
Since 2014 WildCraft Cider Works’ dedication to keeping resources sustainable has resulted in delicious ciders that capture Oregon’s terroir via wild yeasts and apples saved from becoming food waste.
In fall 2024, founder and cidermaker Sean Kelly brought that energy to the Coast, opening WildCraft Cider & Pantry in the former location of Yachats Brewing in the small coastal town of Yachats, north of Florence. WildCraft will continue to make cider the Old World way; instead of adding yeast, the apple’s intrinsic natural yeast ferments the fruit over a period of months before the cider is ready for consumption.
At the new location — located just blocks from the ocean in a relaxed pub environment — longtime fans might recognize the cidery’s orchard-cherry bar, which Kelly built and brought over from the original Eugene taproom. Eugene Party Bar chef Tiffany Norton developed the taproom’s new menu, with dishes like cider-braised pork shoulder with beluga lentils and a seasonal cheese board with house-pickled vegetables. Visitors can also take home house ferments, including kimchi, sauerkraut and hot sauce.
Making Change One Apple at a Time
While WildCraft will continue sourcing fruit from Eugene-area properties, Kelly is excited to explore the fruit and botanicals that the coastal region has to offer. Over the last decade, WildCraft has cycled over 4 million pounds of fruit through its mill. These numbers include foraged, gleaned and otherwise rescued apples — an initiative put in place by Kelly, who has an extensive background in environmental stewardship. He previously worked with land-stewardship nonprofits and restoration organizations, where he saw firsthand the volume of materials that would go to waste. He decided to create the cidery as a system to repurpose fruit and botanicals from unmaintained orchards.
“In the discovery of old orchards, you start to get a sense of the history — the lesser-known history — of plantings,” Kelly says.
In addition to sustainably harvesting wild and rare fruit from growers, Kelly sources fruit from community members through WildCraft’s community apple drive, where folks can barter their fruit in exchange for cider or fresh juice. Each year fruit collected from the previous community apple drive is transformed into cans of cider that can be found on shelves statewide. The tradition has carried over to Yachats, where residents brought in fruit to the new cider house soon after its opening.
The Family Business of Oregon’s Cideries
Looking for more places to sample cider in Oregon? These cideries — some with new or multiple taprooms — celebrate both fruit and family. At Bauman’s Cider Company, Christine Walter showcases estate-grown apples and other fruit from her family’s fifth-generation farm in Gervais, producing ciders in distinctly local flavors like loganberry and “All the Berries,” with blueberries, marionberries and raspberries. Bauman’s ciders are also poured at the Bauman’s on Oak taproom, which opened in spring 2024 in Southeast Portland. Here visitors try flights categorized as co-fermented, hopped and modern-fruited while snacking on treats like smoked-salmon toast, chicory salad and pork ribs slathered with loganberry barbecue sauce.
The ciders from Salem’s La Familia Cider Company are made by the Gonzalez family, who blend a cider base with grandmother Lourdes’ aguas frescas recipes in flavors like jamaica (hibiscus) and tamarindo. La Familia’s original taproom is located in downtown Salem, one block from the Riverfront Park. In Portland La Familia’s cider house can be found on bustling Hawthorne Boulevard, among vintage shops, cafes and more.
Legend Cider, founded in The Dalles by Adrianne and Tyler Baumann, also made moves in 2024, relocating its La Pine taproom to a new space twice the size of the original, where diners stop by for pints of unfiltered cider, cider cocktails and food from rotating food trucks. You can also find a number of excellent cideries elsewhere in the Mt. Hood/Columbia River Gorge region, as well as tasting rooms across the state.
