British-Style Cask Ale Is a Challenge, but These Breweries Are Making It Work in the U.S.

At Gigantic Brewing Company in Portland, Ore., brewer and co-owner Van Havig has a response ready for whenever customers ask what cask ale is. “You look them right in the eye, and you say, ‘It’s the way God wanted you to drink it,’” he says. “The history of beer is some sort of bunged-up, naturally or semi-naturally carbonated product. That’s how we drank beer as humans for forever.” Like many Americans, Havig first learned about cask ale in the U.K., where the then decline of naturally carbonated beer inspired the founding of the Campaign for Real Ale, a.k.a.