Ole and Sven went fishing one day...**: Outboard by Milwaukee Brewing Company

I've known of Evinrude outboard motors for a long time as my father had one when I was a boy that powered the boat on our ventures on Sissabagama Lake during our summers up north. But I had no idea that the brand was named after one Ole Evinrude until c. 2009 when I saw Bob Jacobson's book Ole Evinrude and His Outboard Motor for sale at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. I was also unaware until just a few minutes ago that this Bob Jacobson is the same Bob Jacobson who plays trumpet in Madison's finest Herb Alpert/Al Hirt tribute band, Hirt Alpert. Go see them at the Orton Park Festival this weekend for the rockingest version of "Java" around.

Evinrude was a Norwegian immigrant who spent some time here in Madison before making his way to Milwaukee where he would invent the outboard motor or, at least, the first one that worked well enough to go into production. It's no surprise that Milwaukee Brewing Company pays tribute to the man that fisherpeople and water skiers the world round venerate as they have a reputation for naming their beers after all things Milwaukee. See, for instance, Polish Moon or Increase Wheat.

Overboard is a cream ale and I took a tentative step into investigating the style back in June as the weather was getting hotter and I found myself thinking, "I wonder what other lighter beers would go well in this heat besides a Kid Kölsch or a Bubbler?" The cream ale was invented in the 19th century by American brewers who found themselves losing customers who were increasingly refreshing themselves with those new-fangled pilsners. Insofar as it mimics the pils by being light and crisp, the cream ale sounds like a good fit for summer drinking. The wild card for me is the corn.

We Americans put corn in some form or another into just about everything. And I don't mean just all types of foods either. It's even in our gasoline so we can support a monoculture at the same time we support global climate change. The cream ale generally has corn in it too. I am ambivalent about the use of corn in beer. It makes everything about a brew lighter – color, body, taste. But, to my tongue, it also gives a beer a slight sweetness that I don't care for the taste of. Maybe it's just some part of my brain overriding input from my tongue and brewers are able to put this flavor I don't particularly care for into beer by other means. I am not a supertaster who can detect a single corn kernel in a glass of beer and be sent into fits of apoplexy. Corn in moderation is fine but there is a limit the exact percentage of which is unknown to me that is just a step too far for my taste. 

It sounds like Outboard has been brewed for a while and has had its formula tweaked through the years. It became a year-round offering back in 2014. 

Outboard is a lovely hazy yellow although the head on my pour was lacking. Just a little loose white foam. Does corn do something to the proteins to subdue the foam? I spied lots of bubbles inside my glass. The aroma was dominated by a strawberry-like fruitiness with a mild grain scent behind it.

The first thing I noticed when I took a sip was that it was rather smooth tasting. I generally think of oats adding smoothness to a beer but perhaps corn does as well. As expected, it had a light body. There was a medium fizziness beside some light grain and that berry-like fruitiness that my nose caught earlier. I tasted just a faint bit of that sweetness that I, rightly or wrongly, attribute to corn. On the swallow there was a tad of lingering grain along with a mild hoppy bitterness that had a grassy kind of taste. A little dryness was to be had as well which seemed to largely be from the fizz.

As far as being a summer brew, Outboard really hit the spot with its overall light touch that balanced a smidge of grain here with a dollop of fruitiness there. While not as crisp as a pils, it still leaned in the direction of its arch enemy. I wasn't expecting that berry kind of taste but it was gentle and welcome. Plus I was pleased that I didn't get much of that corny flavor. Overall this is just a tasty, refreshing beer and a welcome addition to my Aestival Beer Arsenal™ .

Junk food pairing: I say go full Milwaukee with your Outboard and grab a bag of potato chips from the Milwaukee Chip Company, a new face on the local junk food scene.

**...in a rented boat and were catching fish like crazy. Ole said, "We better mark this spot so we can come back and catch more fish." Sven then proceeded to mark the bottom of the boat with a large 'X'. Ole asked him what he was doing, and Sven told him he was marking the spot so they could come back tomorrow to catch more fish. Ole said, "Ya big dummy, how do ya know ve are going to get da same boat tomorrow?"