Pouring Proper Pints

To this day, Texas still has 3 dry counties in the state. Hays County, which borders the Austin, Texas, area was also a dry county until fairly recently in the grand scheme of time. During the early years of being a wet county, Dripping Springs was considered a small town, with not much in the way of entertainment. By 2018 the landscape had completed shifted. Huge destination breweries and distilleries could now be found through out the Texas Hill Country.

Before Acopon Brewing Co. was born, John McIntosh and Dave Niemeyer had opened the first craft beer bar in Dripping Springs, right on historic Mercer St. When they approached me to help them develop an identity for their new brewery, we knew we needed something to stand out. The common cliche for breweries is to name it after their local area, landmark, or history. This makes sense from a community perspective, you want to push your locality, but it is also fairly boring.

Acopon(ak’-o-pon); an obsolete English word that originated in the 16th century, primarily referring to a health tonic, cordial, or restorative medicine.

I recommended, instead, focusing on what actually makes them unique; traditional English Ales served from a hand pump. This traditional style of beer led us down the path of searching for a unique Old English word, that resonated in some way with consuming a beverage. Thus, Acopon was born.

With the name chosen, I explored a variety of ideas primarily dealing with health or healing including alchemy, potions, and tonics; in the end however, we decided on a Plague Doctor. In the times of the bubonic plague, most plague doctors were simply public servants and not doctors at all. In that sense, a pint beer may restore your spirit, though it's not advocated to actually be healthy for you, especially in excess.

The theming has continued throughout their individual beers, from historical English callbacks, to German folklore and Slavic mythology.

Beers such as “Gas Pipes”, named named after the street lamps of London before they were electric powered, “Hans Trapp”, the Bavarian version of Krampus, and “Polednice”, a noon witch in Slavic mythology. These themes not only help the brewery stand out but also create a ton of merchandising opportunities, which not only boost brand awareness among the public but also serve as a major revenue driver for small brewpubs.