Producing Internationally Renowned Ciders with a Hometown Feel
By: Becky Garrison
For Christine Walter, founder of Bauman’s Cider Company, her earliest childhood memories are of Bauman’s Farm and Garden (Woodburn), a 5th generation family farm. Surrounded by grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and siblings, she took her turn cranking the press and then joyously sipping the fresh-pressed cider.
However, she didn’t ferment her first cider until she was 40. After ordering her first cider at a bar because there were very few good gluten-free options on the menu, she experienced a real wake-up call. As Walter recalls, “I rushed home to tell my uncle and aunt along with my cousins, who still live on the farm, that they needed to start fermenting the apple juice. It took a while to convince them that I needed to use a little corner of the barn for a fermentation project.”
She started with 5-gallon carboys then grew to a 100-gallon fermenter on wheels that she pushed into the cooler to carbonate. This was followed by 300-gallon poly-tanks, slowly and progressively, all the way up to her current 4,000-gallon tanks.
In Walter’s estimation, part of what makes cidermaking so amazing is the different production styles and cider-making methods she has at her disposal. Also, she finds that cider is the most sustainable alcoholic beverage both in terms of energetic inputs, as well as using blemished fruit that would not be sold as primary fruit or the must left over from fermenting wine grapes that would be composted. As they grow other fruits on Bauman’s Farm like blueberries, gooseberries, plums, and peaches, she can easily do co-ferments. She uses whole fruit except for Pinot Noir grapes where she utilizes the must.
The Birth of Bauman’s on Oak
The move of Bauman’s Cider Company from Gervais to Portland was out of necessity as they ran out of space and capacity at the farm. An expansion would require a new building with a water-treatment program to be kinder to the current well and septic system.
When they went looking for a turn-key space with floor drains and room for tanks, they found a dream situation when John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing in Portland leaked to their mutual distributor that he was closing the shop. So, they were able to lease an entire brewery that was in place and ready to go. The fact they did not have to move their current equipment (outside of 3 fermenters and a new filter) meant that much of the farm cidery could remain intact and continue to ferment the smaller traditional batches of cider. Their bigger, modern batches could be moved to the city, where they have the luxury of Bull Run water and access to the city sewer system.
Bauman’s on Oak opened in Southeast Portland on January 24, 2024, as a cidery and taproom. Initially, Walter intended to use the old taproom attached to this production facility for storage. Then one of her production guys said “Hey, I’d love to work the front of house. Why don’t we just start pouring cider? We can make it super low-key, a few nights a week.”
Then she asked a dear friend Daniel Green, a founding owner of the Portland bakery/restaurant Cafe Olli, if he would give her some advice about whom she could find to rent out the kitchen to use as a commissary space or catering hub. Green looked at the tiny little kitchen with a few critical appliances and said, “I’ll do your food program. No problem.”
After Andre Munier, the beverage writer for The Oregonian, ran a piece that announced Bauman’s Cider’s new taproom, Walter got an email from Chris Leimena, the current General Manager of Le Pigeon and Canard. In this email, he said he had been thinking about what he was going to do next, adding “I felt like the thing I have been waiting for finally made itself known!”
Walter, Green, and Leimena put their heads together, and all fell in love with the idea of creating a space where beautiful ciders are paired alongside world-class food. “We’re doing this in a way that elevates cider in the way that wine bars elevate wine and food,” Walter opines. She describes the food Daniel makes as “very simple and elegant.” He sources items locally such as her uncle’s hazelnuts, Portlanders’ mushrooms grown in their backyard greenhouses, and items like greens and beets coming from her family’s farm or grown in Walter’s backyard. With the acquisition of an outdoor pizza oven, they have begun to offer handcrafted pizzas made with local ingredients on Wednesday nights.
Connecting with Kristof Farms
In addition to her own cidery, Walter is the cider maker for Kristof Farms, a family farm based in Yamhill run by Pulitzer prize-winning journalists Nicholas (Nick) Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn along with their three children. Initially, the farm planted cherries until market demands led them to plant wine grapes and apples instead.
The Kristof family came to Bauman’s Farm and met with Walter where they bought some of her ciders. A few weeks later, Nick reached out and asked if she would consider making their cider. While Walter didn’t have the bandwidth for another project, when it came to the Kristofs, she couldn’t resist. As she reflects, “I love how Nick removes himself from the equation in most of his pieces.
He is a master at it. In a way, it’s what I always try to do in my fermenting: get out of the way of the fruit and let it do its own thing. The best kinds of fermentations are the ones that let the fruit speak for themselves. I think Nick probably treats a story in the same way.”
In the meantime, their daughter Caroline came to the farm and asked a million questions about cider making and growing apples and Walter’s philosophy on both. Walter shared freely with her and sent her off with a recommendation to pick up a couple of beloved cider-making books and take a Foundation to Cidermaking class from the Cider Institute.
About a month later, she got a phone call from Nick. She recounts that he led with “I think I have you to thank for turning my basement into a laboratory.” In her head, she was awed to think that this same person had been on the other side of a phone line to any number of world political and religious figures.
The Kristofs return this admiration and consider Walter to be a critical partner to Kristof Farms. As Nick remarks, “She’s guided us along every major step of the way and been instrumental to our success. Christine’s played an enormous role in the many awards we have won for our ciders, and she’s terrific to work with. We are delighted and grateful to call her our partner.”
Her creations for Kristof Farms include a Pinot Noir Cider, a Reserve Cider, an Orchard Cider, and a Kingston Black Cider along with canned Blush Cider and Whisper, a low 4% ABV cider. In 2025, Walter developed their first sparkling cider made using the Traditional Method with plans to can some of their apple juice as a sparkling non-alcoholic beverage.
Bauman’s Award-Winning Ciders
In March 2024, Walter had the distinction of being the first American Cidermaker to win five awards at the International Cider Awards held in Manchester, England. She continued this winning streak at the 2024 NW Cider Cup. Here Bauman Cider was once again recognized as the region’s Mid-Sized Cidery of the Year, as well as collecting seven medals for individual ciders. This annual accolade has been a Bauman benchmark since 2019, consistently earning distinction in small and medium-sized categories. Also, this year Walter earned a perfect score for her Endless Harvest cider, which represented the first time a cider got this recognition since the cup began in 2012. In addition, Kristof Farms received two medals for their individual ciders along with a three-way tie for Small Cidery of the Year.
Leading the American Cider Association
Currently, Walter serves as the President of the Board of the American Cider Association (ACA). In this capacity, she obtained an import license so to ensure they can have ciders from outside the United States available at various events and competitions.
She was drawn to join the board because of the advocacy they do for industry, primarily in Washington, DC, as well as its very grassroots nature. The ACA’s initiatives include teaching cider makers how to take full advantage of the benefits of owning small businesses including tax credits, along with leveraging state and local agencies and laws as protection and partners rather than enemies. “I’m pretty new to the role, and I hope that I live up to the challenges, as we face a lot of them right now. Ask me in a year and I will tell you whether we are winning the battles,” Walter concludes.
