Popular SE Portland cider taproom closes after financial losses, sinking grocery sales

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Rev Nat Hard Cider Taproom in Southeast Portland is closing its doors after just six months after the business opened its new location.

Nat West began the taproom in a basement back in 2011.

Two years later, they moved into a building that served as both their production site and their taproom. But troubles began in 2020 and business declined over the next two years. West says in 2018 they sold 8,500 barrels, even selling his cider internationally. But this year, they’ve sold just under 2,000 and says they lost a lot of grocery sales along the way.

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“It’s a pretty significant decline. I had 29 employees at my peak in 2018-2019 and that felt like too much and now we’re down to about seven people,” says West.

In March 2023, the taphouse moved to Southeast 35th Avenue and Division Street, but troubles from 2020 carried over into the new location.

“What really made it clear for me is the ability to step back and think what we’ve done for the last 12 years? Who are the people with influence, who are the customers that I’ve met and all the great times we shared,” says West. “It felt really good but unfortunately, we still had all this baggage of the previous few years financial baggage and a lot of years that we just couldn’t overcome at this location.”

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Nat Rev is no longer manufacturing more cider, and any taproom cider that distributors and grocery stores have in their stock is the end of it.

The last day to visit Rev Nat Taproom will be September 24 and there will be a going away party for the public September 23.

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