Historic West Linn Pub Grows To Include Farm And Orchard

By Guest Author: Matt Wastradowski

When Toney Chay returned to West Linn from the East Coast in December 2017, the recent college graduate knew it was time to roll up his sleeves. His family owned a building on Historic Willamette Main Street and wanted his help in transforming the empty space into a thriving community gathering space.

Chay, then working for a general contractor, said he put in long hours and had precious little time off. “I’m spending so much time working, but I think I can build something on my own,” he says of the opportunity to return to West Linn, where he grew up, and help build what would become the Ale & Cider House.

The Ale & Cider House is located on the Historic Willamette Main Street in West Linn.

Today, the Ale & Cider House is one of the top cidermakers in Mt. Hood Territory. It’s also one pillar of a wide-ranging business that encompasses cidermaking, brewing and — as of the summer of 2025 — a brand-new orchard and event space on the family farm. When visitors grab a pumpkin at the Mt. Hood Harvest Trail stop this fall, they’ll get to see the latest chapter in a surprising story that began nearly a decade ago — and which is still being written today.

Here’s more about the growth of the Ale & Cider House, the expanding Queen Orchard and how you can enjoy the literal fruits of the family’s labor all year long.

The Ale & Cider House started growing almost as soon as it opened its doors — and hasn’t really stopped in more than eight years. The physical pub has expanded to encompass a greenhouse-like beer garden out back, a cozy patio and a food cart pod with room for up to eight food trucks. “There are a lot of people that don’t even know that our whole building extends the whole block,” Chay says of the winding space.

Chay started crafting cider around the time the pub opened in 2018 and led the introduction of a craft brewing program in 2025. Today, 7Bev serves its housemade cider under the Queen Orchard label and a variety of ales and lagers under the 7Bev Brewing brand — all inside the Ale & Cider House.

The food cart pod at the Ale & Cider House has space for eight carts with plenty of seating.

Cider has been a part of the company’s story since its infancy, so it only makes sense for the family to purchase a farm and launch an apple orchard. “I feel like that adds a lot to our story,” says Chay, who serves as general manager, as well as head of cidermaking and brewing for the company. (As if that weren’t enough, he’s also head of operations at the farm.)

To date, Chay has planted about 7,000 apple trees in the orchard. He currently sources apples from regional growers but hopes the farm — which sits near Pete’s Mountain at the edge of Wilsonville — will one day provide the necessary fruit for Queen Orchard ciders. To help accomplish that goal, and to produce the best-tasting cider, he’s planted several varieties of French and English apples whose sugar content and flavor profiles typically lead to well-rounded pours. Eventually, Chay hopes to move all brewing and cidermaking out of the Ale & Cider House and onto the farm. 

Queen Orchard is open in the summer of private events and during weekends in October for their Harvest Festival.

There was a second reason to buy the farm and transform it into an event space. As Chay tells it, the Ale & Cider House has hosted myriad events over the years — and his family saw the opportunity to expand that with the farm. In fact, Chay held his wedding reception inside its converted horse arena.

These days, the farm is open in summer exclusively for privately booked events and groups — such as family reunions and corporate retreats — but visitors still have their chance to see the 7Bev story unfold up close. On October weekends, the farm opens for its annual Harvest Festival where the fun typically includes corn hole, a u-pick pumpkin patch and craft beer and cider on tap — with movie nights, pumpkin painting and other special events throughout the month.

He may still be working hard, but Chay doesn’t seem to mind. He’s at the heart of a community that’s been growing for eight years strong — and which doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. “It's very rewarding, and it doesn’t really feel like work,” he says. “It’s more like my hobby.”