Jeremy and Keri Towsey-French will open Reveille Ciderworks next to the developing Reach Break Brewing in the Astoria Station at 1343 Duane St. Building owner Warren Williams will keep a small office along Duane Street.

Don’t prefer beer?

The Astoria Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a new hard cider house downtown.

Jeremy Towsey-French and his wife, Keri, will open Reveille Ciderworks inside 684 square feet of the Astoria Station, a next-door neighbor to the developing Reach Break Brewing.

Towsey-French, speaking on behalf of his project, said he and his wife had a conversation two years ago about how she doesn’t like beer. He said the conversation eventually turned to opening a cider house.

“I am a person who likes to work with his hands,” said Towsey-French, a beer aficionado and former program manager in the technology industry.

Reveille Ciderworks is named after the French term for a bugle call used to wake military personnel, prisoners, boy scouts and other groups at sunrise. Towsey-French said he got his inspiration after waking one morning and hearing an epiphanic call toward his new profession.

“Astoria’s always been a home away from home,” he said. The city reminds him of the grittier, more authentic version of the Portland he moved to in 1997, he said, and of the similarly sized town of Blackfoot, Idaho, where he grew up.

Towsey-French knew Larry Cary, owner of Pilot House Distilling across Duane Street from Astoria Station, and inquired about space. Cary put him in touch with Warren Williams, owner of Astoria Station. Along with the brewery and cider house, Williams also wants to put food carts in the lot.

Towsey-French said he hopes to open Reveille by October, with a 7-barrel cider house, a capacity he hopes will double within a year. The cider house will receive juices from growers in the Hood River Valley, fermenting and conditioning them over a three- to four-week period.

Reveille will have a tap room with two of its own varieties, four other guest ciders from throughout the region and some on-site bottling. Opening with Belgian and India pale ciders on tap, Towsey-French said he is looking to experiment and make many unique small batches, along with a nonalcoholic variety.

“In the lab, I’ve got a peach blend,” he said. “We’re definitely doing some fruit blends.

“Our goal is to help Astoria have more access to cider,” he said.