Cider Riot is For Sale, Abram Goldman-Armstrong Tells Us Why
Portland's infamous Cider Riot is looking to sell and it doesn't have anything to do with antifascists or proud boys. Abram Goldman-Armstrong opened Cider Riot as a nano operation out of his garage in 2013 and didnt take long to expand into a production facility and taproon on NE Couch. Unfortunately, the company's expansion in 2016 proved too costly and left the company without capital and in a tight market with too much competition. Cider Riot is listed for sale at $700,000 - $875,000 and production has been 1K barrels a year but the facility is built to handle up to 5K. Portland's Woodbox Cider also went up for sale earlier this year and closed in August. Cider Riot famously has been the site of several illegal incidents regarding far right group from Vancouver, WA - the Proud Boys.
Goldman-Armstrong is in the middle of a one million dollar lawsuit against the proud boys leader Joey Gibson in a high profile fight that has ignited the comment sections on The Oregonian, Willamette Week and other mainstream publications. Recently, the Portland Police Department has began arresting members of the Proud Boys that were involved with a May 1st 2019 assault at Cider Riot that have lead to the lawsuit. Members of the alt-right have used this incident and past gatherings at Cider Riot to attempt to tarnish the cidery's reputation by leaving negative comments and reviews on yelp, facebook and other outlets. To a certain extent it seems to have worked, even mainstream publications are referring to Cider Riot as an antifascist bar, which leaves one to wonder what local pubs are pro fascist? Most of the negative comments online that criticize Cider Riot are by people that have likely never been there and likely do not even live in Oregon. In reality, the intimate taproom is a quiet place to enjoy a traditional dry cider, the kind that are flavored by apples and not as popular these days.
I reached out to Abram Goldman-Armstrong to with him good luck, and also ask about the future of Cider Riot and what has lead him to seek a buyer.
Q: Do you plan to stay open for awhile if you do not have a buyer?
Abram: We'll stay open as long as we can, it's been a struggle ever since we did the expansion in 2016, all our money went into build out and we didn't have any left for sales and marketing. We need a pretty significant infusion of capital in order to stay open much beyond October.
Q: Why have you decided to get out of ownership [of the cidery]?
The members of the LLC thought that it would attract more interest as a complete sale rather than looking for more equity investment. I'd love to find a buyer that would want to keep me on as a minority partner.
Q: What is the next thing for you?
Hopefully I can find a buyer who wants to keep me on as a cidermaker. I love what I do, but after three years without a paycheck I need to be compensated for my labor. I think it's no secret that I believe strongly in a fair day's pay for a fair days work. I've been doing this to support my employees and my community as I believe that the cider I make and pub we operate makes life better for others. I would like it to also be able to pay me. Other than that I don't really have a plan, I have plenty of options, make cider for someone else, work in a brewery, go back to swinging a hammer, emigrate to Cider Country, write the great Cascadian novel, I honestly don't know, Cider Riot has been my identity for the last six years.
Q: What would you say to people who think this has something to do with the proud boys incidents?
If I can be a bit flippant, I'd tell them to stop reading the comments section on Oregon Live and get a grip on reality. This has everything to do with the difficulty and expense of navigating the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services red tape. The time we spent waiting for building permits and digging a $40,000 hole in the ground for a wastewater sampling vault really crushed us. I hate to be one of those typical "Portland is hostile to small business" business owners, but it really is. Reverend Nat's has been waiting on their permits to start buildout on their new spot since September 2017, but if you want to build a condo and have the deep pockets they roll out the red carpet for you rather than tie you up in red tape.
We spent every penny we had and more on the build out, with no money left to do sales and marketing, which are key to growing a brand beyond the organic growth that got us to 1000 barrels a year. We took on debt and were never able to sell enough to get out of it.
Q: What is the status of the lawsuit and will the outcome effect your business staying open or selling?
The DA is in the process of convicting the Patriot Prayer members for the crimes they committed on May Day. If we won the lawsuit and were awarded the damages sought, and received them in time we would definitely use the funds to stay open, invest in a bigger glycol chiller, more sales and marketing folks, etc. It would be great to get compensated for the fear and chaos that hate group has caused to our cidery and our community. The reality is that lawsuits take a long time, it's not a part of our capitalization strategy, as they say, but I would love to spend the money of those hatemongers to do something good for the community.
Cider Riot's pub remains open for business and their ciders are available in cans and bottles through Maletis Beverage in Oregon. 807 NE Couch St, Portland, OR 97232.