“Pint of Bitter, then?”

As an impressionable student, John McIntosh’s introduction to the halcyon days of cask beer came under the tutelage of that most old-school of country-pub bartenders; the kind immortalised in British cinema and literature, who begin hand-pumping a pint of bitter as soon as the door to the public house creaks open.

“I wasn’t given a choice,” says John, smiling lightly at the memory. “I thought wow! It wasn’t as cold or fizzy as I’m used to, but actually it was pretty tasty.”

That John’s inaugural cask bitter experience was at The Perch, one of Oxford’s prettiest historic watering holes, feels serendipitous. It’s a spot I also frequented as an undergraduate, sipping pints on the banks of the River Thames in the haze of the yellow-white Home Counties sun. More than two decades later, here we are in the heart of central Texas, drinking cask ale freshly brewed on-site in the Acopon Brewery taproom, established by John and co-founder Dave Niemeyer.

On moving to the Hill Country three years ago I would never have suspected that I would find authentic English ale served on cask a mere 30 minutes from my home. I assumed that, along with meat pies and proper fish and chips, cask ale was another beloved British delicacy I’d left behind.

While the craft beer scene is booming in Central Texas, English-style beers and cask serving remain rare, so for this homesick, real-ale-loving Brit abroad, finding Acopon Brewing was a discovery of Indiana-Jones-esque proportions. The warm, pub-style wood panelling and English Football’s Premier League paraphernalia inside complement the sun-soaked picnic tables out front, so you can enjoy your choice of Acopon’s 12-beer tap list in comfort, whatever the unpredictable Texan weather chooses to throw at you. After our first visit we were hooked, and now we traverse the gentle ups and downs of the Hill Country’s limestone-granite vistas, deep, sparkling lakes and golden fields of ambling longhorn cattle regularly, all to visit Acopon’s perfectly Anglo-Texan taproom, lips thirsting for that first sip of mild.

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John and Dave, both native Texans, met 11 years ago at a charity event at Jester King Brewing. Lamenting the lack of any decent craft beer bars nearby, they discovered a mutual love for Houston’s Gingerman Pub and Richmond Arms (both now sadly closed), regularly ricocheting up and down Highway 290 for sips of hard-to-find brews.

“We got tired of driving to the Gingerman and back so we had to open our own brewery,” John says, not entirely joking.

As experienced homebrewers with a combined 35 years of experience, John and Dave were confident they could bring English ale and cask serving to Dripping Springs. On returning to the UK in late 2016, John’s joy in rediscovering these styles in their native environment sealed the deal.

“I did a lot of research and came back sure that this was what we should brew. English-style ales are hugely under-represented here,” he tells me, drawing on his pint of Homunculus, the brewery’s iteration of a dark mild. “Yet without them there would be no American craft beer.”

Dave readily agreed, inspired by his own travels in the UK and Ireland as well as their Houston watering holes.

“We really wanted to make our brewery a community gathering centre and capture a sense of authentic pub culture, as well as the spirit of places like the Gingerman,” he adds.

““English-style ales are hugely under-represented here, yet without them there would be no American craft beer.”
”

— John McIntosh, Acopon Brewing

As every pub-lover knows, so much of that atmosphere comes from talking about the beer you’re drinking, something which is paramount to John and Dave’s taproom experience. All three of Acopon’s bartenders have a level one Cicerone qualification, proudly framed behind the bar. For John and Dave, talking knowledgeably but accessibly about their beers has been key to their success in spreading their love for milds, ESBs, English IPAs and the like through Central Texas. Gaspipes is Acopon’s ESB and one of their flagship beers. This, Dave tells me, can act as an easy entry-point for people who homebrew or know a little about beer.

“We tell them how this is the beer that started craft beer,” he says. “It’s where pale ale comes from, and they can connect with that story.”

You might imagine that a mild served on cask would be a hard sell to old-school ranch-dwelling Central Texans, but happily they’ve embraced it.

“I get a lot of positive feedback for the Homunculus,” John says.

Honestly, it’s my own house favourite too. This glorious, achingly authentic beer perfectly captures the soft light body, roasted-nut-malt with a gliding hint of toffee, and gentle ooze of warm dried fruit that stills my little homesick, pub-sick heart. I was delighted to hear that Homunculus is very popular among the Dripping Springs Cooking Club, who have been converted en masse to the joys of mild.

“It’s important to explain that it won’t taste like a Guinness, so there’s an expectation for it to be much lighter-bodied and easy-drinking,” John explains. “We describe cask serving as having a softer carbonation and a fuller body, as opposed to warm and flat!” A fantastic way to semantically overturn historic prejudices.

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John’s creation of Homunculus was, rather beautifully, inspired by Rudgate Brewing’s Ruby Mild, winner of the 2009 GBBF Gold Medal. Feasting eagerly on CAMRA newsletters posted over by a British friend, John’s desire to try this award-winning brew led him to research and create his very own version.

As one of the—I’m sure—very few folks who has had the privilege of trying both beers, I can confirm that he has done a remarkable job indeed. Acopon sources their hops, yeast and grains directly from the UK, and has a strong relationship with Brook House Hops in Hertfordshire. Dave and John emphasise the importance of keeping their ingredients authentic in order to successfully capture the flavours they want, and mercifully, supply has been unthreatened by the pandemic. Covid has, however, disrupted Acopon’s access to British nibbles.

“I really want to get proper crisps from the UK back in,” says John, with relatable glee. “Hula Hoops and Jaffa Cakes–real snacks!”

Despite its proximity to Austin, Dripping Springs, the self-proclaimed “Gateway to the Hill Country,” remains a small, rural town with a sprawling population of close to 7,500. This may not sound like the most fertile location for an unconventional brewery making unfamiliar beers, but there has been a rapid and intense growth of the beer scene in Central Texas, spearheaded by Jester King, the area’s best-known brewery, and Acopon’s neighbours. With over 15 brewery taprooms now traversing the Hill Country, and (pre-Covid) beer-tour buses making the rounds every weekend, the area is changing.

“My grandfather moved here in the late 60s and was still the “new guy” til the mid-to-late 80s!” John says. “But although this is still a close community, that old-Texan clannishness has diluted, died off or moved away–people are more pragmatic now.”

This pragmatism has, in part, come from tourism. In normal times, over a million tourists a year pass through the Hill Country on wine tours, beer tours, hiking trips and historic getaways. Dripping Springs may be small but it knows the value of Texas hospitality.

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Meghan Dabbs has been pouring pints at Acopon for the last two and a half years, and loves introducing new people to the Acopon tap list.

“It’s the same experience I had myself,” she says. “I’d never tried cask beer before working here, but I’ve come to really enjoy the way that it brings out the flavour of the English-style dark beers.”

A Dripping Springs local, Dabbs smiles shyly when I ask her about her role at Acopon.

“I feel honoured to be part of something that’s both different and traditional,” she says with quiet pride. “I feel that Acopon adds something special to the local culture and beer community here.”

Needless to say, as a Dripping Springs local, an expat craving a cask fix, and an avid Acopon fan, I couldn’t agree with her more.