395: PDX Tips for CiderCon 2024

395: PDX Tips for CiderCon 2024

Author: Ria Windcaller: Award-winning Cidermaker, Podcaster | Craft Beer Columnist January 10, 2024 Duration: 50:32

Bookmark this episode for loads of Portland Oregon a.k.a. PDX Tips

Oregon Cider Week and CiderCon 2024 are all converging in PDX and this episodes has all the tips you need arrive and hit the ground running. Portland resident Sean Connolly, who is also known as Cider Experience on Instragram and Facebook has delivered big time with tons of tips and insider knowlege to help everyone feel like a local.

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Sean Connolly

In this Cider Chat on PDX Tips

  • Temperature
    • Highs 47 degrees
    • 50/50 chance of rain or sunny
    • Bring layers
Cider Chat Episode 395 PDX Tips feature 300x200
  • What to wear
    • Jeans and plaids work
    • Casual dress code and functional

PDX Tips to look like a local: Loose the umbrella and let your hair get wet! When using an umbrella, it is obvious you are from out of town!

  • Transportation
  • Airport (PDX) to CiderCon – The Met Red line is not in service beginning January 14th. Service will be still provided via shuttle buses which will take a bit longer than the 30 minute ride. It is still a great deal at $2.80
  • Bicycles for Rent in PDX
    • Nike Launch a travel by bike – https://biketownpdx.com/
    • There are lots of bike lanes
    • Spring Water Corridor runs the length of the Willamette River approximately 7-8 miles
  • Need Tech help or supplies?
    • The Lloyd Center is close by and in old town Portland there is a full service Apple Stor

PDX Tips for purchases: There is no Sales Taxes in Oregon

  • Restaurants near CiderCon
    • Red Robin
    • Spanish Tapas
    • Noble Rot – beautiful views of the city
    • Big Pink – City Grill on 33rd floor with great views
    •  Sizzle Side Pizza
    • Spirit of 77 Seas recommends for good pub faire
  • Grocery stores by Hyatt
    • Safeway approximately 3/4 mile
    • Trader Joes about 4 miles away in the Hollywood district

PDX Tips: The city is Food Trucks heaven – Look for "Food Cart Pods" via Travel Portland 's online food cart finder

Cider

Cider Locations closest to Hyatt and Oregon Convention Center

  • Schilling Cider House – a wide range of taps approx 1 Mile from the Hyatt
  • Spirit of 777 Tap take over
  • Pizza Thief – the tap
  • Lil Spirits – a block and half from Convention Center – tap takeovers – 437 NE Lloyd Blvd Portland, OR 97232
  • The Place PDX – A cider bar will be hosting multiple cider events

In Pearl District on west side of river

  • Bring Cider or Beer Home
  • The Place PDX – buy bottles to go
  • John's Marketplace big collection of both cider and beer – 3560 SE Powell Blvd -Portland, OR 
  • McMenamins has a large selections
  • New Seasons Market
  • Pick up cider and beer at the Portland International Airport
    • Look for Made in Oregon Store in airport

 Sean's PDX Tips for Fun in Portland

PDX Tips for Cannabis: Oregon Legalized Cannabis in 2015. There are 5 dispensaries around the hotel conference center. Look up: WhatsLegalOregon.com

Mentions in this Cider Chat


There’s a whole world in a glass of cider, and Cider Chat is your invitation to explore it. Hosted by award-winning cidermaker and writer Ria Windcaller, this podcast travels far beyond the bottle to meet the people who make the global cider culture so vibrant. Each conversation is a journey-you might find yourself in a heritage orchard learning the history of forgotten apple varieties, in a bustling taproom with an importer explaining regional traditions, or in a kitchen with a chef pairing cider with unexpected foods. The discussions get into the delightful nuances, too, whether that’s the semantics of what we even call this drink or how the concept of terroir translates from soil to sip. It’s not just about production; it’s about the community, the travel, and the stories that fermentation unlocks. This is for anyone curious about the craft, history, and sheer enjoyment of fermented apple juice in all its forms. So, pour a glass and settle in for a series that feels like a wide-ranging, informative, and genuinely good-humored chat with friends who happen to be obsessed with cider. You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation for every effervescent, tart, or sweet sip, hearing directly from the growers, makers, and enthusiasts who are shaping this drink’s exciting present and future.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 501

Cider Chat
Podcast Episodes
029: At The Hop | Oliver's Cider and Perry, UK [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:49
Tom Oliver shares his approach to hopped cider and the best of what the US and UK have to look forward to in the cider market. What he saw in US hopped ciders back in 2013 ignited his desire to try his hand at adding hop…
028: John Bunker | Apple Identification [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:48
When John Bunker talks or teaches Apple Identification he doesn't begin with the apple. He always goes back to the root of the tree…unless it is one of the Eric Clapton apples, i.e., you immediately recognize it as a var…
027: Aaron Anderson | Austin Eastciders, Texas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:14
Austin Eastciders is helping to make Austin Texas a cider mecca in a land where the apple root faces harsh growing conditions. Aaron Anderson is the R&D Coordinator at this growing cidery. He sat down for a chat with me…
026: Neil Worley | Worleys Cider, UK [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:28
Keeving Made Simple, but oh so Dandy at Worleys Cider Neil Worley's makes cider in the area of Great Britain called Somerset. Climb the high hill at the farm and your can see the Bristol Channel. It is a remote location…
025: Jim Wallace | Cider Pairing with a Cheese Maker [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:51
Jim Wallace is a cheese maker and cheese tech a.k.a the "Cheese Guru" at New England Cheesemaking Supply in Ashfield Massachusetts. When not helping the cheese world sort through problematic cheeses, he teaches classes a…
024: Leonard Koningswijk | Bear Cider, Netherlands [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:29
Leonard Koningswijk owner/cidermaker of Bear Cider in the Netherlands is turning his country towards cider one palate at a time. The idea was sprouted at his family home in the rural village of Beerze on the border of Ge…
023: Alec Steinmetz | Buskey Cider, Virginia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:04
Alec Steinmetz, Will Correll and Matthew Meyer are sharing their story of starting an urban cidery. This is Part 1 of what will be an ongoing story of the start-up Buskey Cider of Richmond, Virginia. The cidermaking tank…
022: Gregory Hall | Virtue Cider, Michigan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:17
Getting to cider for Gregory Hall, was one part luck and a whole lot of beer. When his father John Hall founded the Chicago based Goose Island Brewery in 1988, it took only 3 years before Greg was at the helm of brewing.…
021: Bill Bradshaw | Bill Bradshaw Photography, UK [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:21
Bill Bradshaw is a photographer, an author of three cider books and consider by many to be a Cider Ambassador for UK ciders. I met with Bill at the United States Association of Cider Makers annual conference in Portland…
020: Curtis Sherrer | Millstone Cellars, Maryland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:58
Curtis Sherrer is barreling aging single variety apples at Millstone Cellars. An old grist mill dating back to the 1850s houses the Tasting Room. "We will have 50 barrels and then settle on 15 to pick from to blend for t…