Cider Riot! Wins Big at World’s Biggest Cider Competition While Alter Ego Opens Its First Taproom

Oregon Cider Week is 12 days away, but fans of local hard-pressed beverages have at least two reasons to guzzle down early.

Cider Riot! is back stateside two medals richer after snagging the awards at the Bath & West International Cider Championships, what's believed to be the world's largest competition devoted to the beverage. Founder of the Northeast Portland business, Abram Goldman-Armstrong, traveled to England to accept the duo of bronzes: one for 1763 Revolutionary West Country Cider in the West Country Style class and another for New Wave Pub Cider in the Acid Dominant category.

"It's a huge honor to win two awards at the Royal Bath and West Show here in the heart of cider country," Goldman-Armstrong said in a statement.

Goldman-Armstrong learned to make cider two decades ago at Newberg's White Oak Cider, which produces the bold, fruity Somerset-style take on the drink. Cider Riot! previously took home two bronze medals at Bath & West in 2017.

While Portland is best known as Beervana, the cider scene also got a little more crowded this week with the opening of Alter Ego Cider's taphouse on Southeast 7th Avenue near Lincoln Street. Co-owners Anne Hubatch and Kevin Bates along with cidermaker Robert Lauer use wine-like techniques and Pacific Northwest-grown apples to create small, experimental batches.

Though it's been operating for five years, this will be the first space in the city devoted to serving Alter Ego. You'll find two flagships on tap—The Brut, a pure apple cider, and The Guardian Angel, a blueberry and pomegranate blend—along with seasonals. The space seats 18 and pours Wednesday through Sunday.