Alchemy summons forth new metal and gothic cidery from former Portland brewery
Alchemy Cider is the latest new cidery in Portland and making their home in the grave of a once beloved local nano Brewery 26
As brand new startup fermentation business openings become more rare, Alchemy Cider hopes to thrive where the former Brewery 26 failed. The location at 818 SE Ankeny St, Portland, OR 97214 will serve spirits with beer and cocktails to supplement their house ciders in a dim baroque industrial space evoking gothic inspired bars with devoted cult followings.
Alchemy will embrace the dark, fantastical, magical, and metal sounds, imagination and imagery that entranced former craft beer nerd Kirk Evans many years ago before he fell into his love of cider.
“I was a huge Belgian and German beer aficionado in my early 20's, which I think definitely comes into our brand,” says Alchemy Cider owner/founder Kirk Evans. “I intentionally wanted to build the branding for Alchemy as an homage to the tradition and reverence that both those countries have for their beer....cider is no different.”
After graduating with a B.S. in business with a focus on entrepreneurial studies, Evans began working for a Belgian beer distributor on the east coast. “A 2001 trip to Belgium and Germany gave me an incredible appreciation for the tradition and spiritual connection humans have with fermented beverages.”
In 2007 Evans moved to Portland and began working for Mt. Hood Beverage (a beer distributor that later became Columbia Distributing.) “When I moved to Portland, it felt like a mecca for beer,” says Evans. But unfortunately beer stopped agreeing with his own health and he started exploring outside of hops, malt and barley. “I discovered cider in my mid 30's and during COVID went down a rabbit hole spending countless hours learning to make cider by reading books, blogs and research papers. To say cider has become an obsession would be an understatement.”
Evans founded a digital marketing agency focused on the cannabis industry in 2015, and worked with CPG brands and retailers across the country. Working as a recognized industry leader and featured speaker in branding and retailing circles, Evans polished his business bonafides as a seasoned entrepreneur with an extensive background in the beverage, design and marketing worlds.
In 2022, Evans transitioned back into beverage as a Marketing Director at Bauman's Cider Co. where he met Bobby Noughton, the lead Cidermaker at Bauman’s from 2018-2022. Evans then went on to make cider himself at 19 Acres Cider in Sherwood, Oregon, rising to the role of head Cidermaker from 2022-2023.
Over the last two years since leaving 19 Acres, Evans has been working as a packaging and marketing consultant while putting together his vision for Alchemy Cider. With a vast knowledge of cider and brands, and the intention to operate a full bar at the taproom and hand-sell the cider, Evans reached back out to Noughton to become head Cidermaker and offer him work equity in the company.
“Both Bobby and I are avid foragers, searching for unique fruit and flavor combinations that are off the beaten path,” says Evans. “We believe that great products are made with great ingredients, so we choose to only backsweeten with fresh apple juice as opposed to sugar, and source ingredients from local orchards/farms/vendors whenever possible. I would describe the brand as a modern take on a trappist beer brand in some ways...we have great reverence for cider. We also have a very playful, irreverent side to our brand that will come out in the marketing.”
Alchemy has a substantial amount of space to realize this concept, with a warehouse space and parking lot with high ceilings and solid plumbing for production they could potentially make 3,600 barrels of cider per year if everything worked out perfectly. They have managed to build out the production for relatively cheap, taking advantage of the insanely cheap deals on equipment from breweries going out of business or downsizing. Most of the Alchemy tank farm were acquired from Salem, Oregon’s Gilgamesh Brewing which quietly ceased brewing beer last year. Smaller tanks were acquired from the former tenant Brewery 26, and a oak Foeder was sourced from Westward Whiskey that once held their single-malt and will now be used for barrel-aged cider. In addition to the fermentation equipment, they also picked up thousands of 500ml glass bottles from Cascade Brewing. Alchemy expect to make about 1,500 barrels of cider in their first year.
Alchemy will specialize in semi-dry ciders with quaffability and complexity. In today’s contemporary cider landscape, ciders tent to be fruited or spiced with more than apples and yeast, but often on the sweeter and tarter side. Alchemy will not shy away from those specialty ingredients, but will model their flavors and balance on food, tonics, and balanced cocktails and elixirs.
Though not ready to reveal the full core lineup of ciders, you start to get the picture with initial flavors like Forbidden Fields cider with strawberry, yuzu zest, and hibiscus flowers to create a balanced and zesty citrus, berry, and spice combination.
Eternal Apple from Alchemy is their flagship semi-dry “Tavern” style cider that is free of additional ingredients, focusing on only the yeast and apple flavors from a blend of sweet, sharp, and aromatic varieties and a semi-dry finish.
You can start to see the Alchemy Cider Co. brand reveal itself in the packaging which takes on a dark sword and sorcery tone that is still animated and not too heavy in the comic book like fantasy illustrations. Evans describes it as a unique approach for a more contemporary cider brand that is quite different than most current cideries that almost universally take either a lighter, rustic, farmhouse-style winery aesthetic, or a bold grocery-store friendly color coded brand identities.
”Whereas most modern cider brands are safely marketed to the average consumer, we wanted to appeal to people's darker sensibilites,” says Evans. “I think most people have some interest in magical, mystical, witchy things, and we are hoping to tap into those interests through our branding, packaging and marketing.”
Alchemy Cider is the latest example of a Portland, Oregon brewery closing only to become a hard cidery. Alchemy Cider is just 3 blocks from Bauman’s on Oak which itself was formerly the Ecliptic Brewing Moon Room, and before that was the now out of business Base Camp Brewing. When Alchemy opens this summer 2025 it will cement the inner southeast Portland neighborhoods of Buckman and adjacent Ladd’s Addition as the premiere cider area in Oregon with the Bauman’s. the new location of Schilling Cider House, and The Place, all within 4 miles of Alchemy’s location 818 SE Ankeny St, Portland, OR 97214.
