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?"

What's In a Beer Name Anyway?

I recently came across the new label design for Great Lakes Brewing Company's Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. In contrast to the previous one, the picture looks more foreboding, more perilous, which it certainly was for the ship and its crew on that day in 1975 when it sank. Regardless of the label's exact appearance, I have always appreciated the Great Lakes/Upper Midwestern reference. Our world is becoming increasingly homogeneous and I appreciate things that are local and idiosyncratic - reflective of the place from which they originate, even if it's something simple like a beer name or label. Those of us in the middle of the country do not need to follow each and every trend from the coasts.

Great Lakes Brewing took a regional outlook when naming their porter. The Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior in either Michigan or Canadian waters, I cannot recall which, not in Lake Erie on Cleveland's north side. Nonetheless, seeing the label got me thinking about beer labels that celebrate place, that do a little something to illustrate the ortgeist of the brewery's community. 

I suspect that I initially noticed this kind of thing several years ago with Goose Island before they were absorbed by the A-B InBev Borg. They offered 312 Urban Wheat and Green Line Pale Ale.

312 is the area code for downtown Chicago while Green Line is one of the L train lines which apparently ran near the original Goose Island location. 

As for Wisconsin labels, it seems that many a brewery draws on imagery from the state. Northwoods Brewpub has, for example, Wall-I-PA named after the fish popular in northern parts of the state, although it is found in the northern part of the U.S. generally. New Glarus has the ubiquitous Spotted Cow, Back 40, Uff Da, and probably others. However, I don't believe New Glarus has ever had a beer named after something or someone from New Glarus and I am unaware of any Northwoods brews that owe their names to Osseo or its previous home, Eau Claire. Of breweries that take that kind of hyperlocal naming to heart, Milwaukee Brewing Company is first to my mind. Well, perhaps not their labels exclusively, but also their packaging.

For instance there was Increase Wheat.

It was named after Increase Lapham who moved to Milwaukee in 1836 and cataloged the plants in the area and the shells he found on the shores of Lake Michigan. He founded the Wisconsin Natural History Association and was Chief Geologist of the State of Wisconsin for a time.

Another one of their beers that comes readily to mind is their milk stout, Polish Moon, which is the nickname of the Allen-Bradley clock tower on Milwaukee's south side which was heavily Polish.

More recently the design for MKE IPA feature the "People's Flag of Milwaukee", presumably a response to the city's official flag which is rather busy and gaudy.

Also from Milwaukee is Lakefront's Eastside Dark which features the gothic stylings of the North Point Water Tower.

A bit west of Milwaukee in Lake Mills is the Tyranena Brewing Company. They do a good job of reflecting Wisconsin in their beer names and labels. But they also aren't afraid to showcase the Lake Mills area. For instance, there was Stone Teepee Pale Ale whose label featured the supposed stone pyramids in Rock Lake which is on the west side of town.

The Madison area doesn't seem to exactly have a surfeit of beers with names that relate to it. We do, however, have Ale Asylum's Madtown Nut Brown.

Now why Burke and Hare seem to be on the label is beyond me. Or is there some Madison lore depicted on it of which I am unaware?

Wisconsin Brewing has Badger Club, which is named after the official state animal, and Boom Run, a nod to the lumber industry - up north. Capital Brewery has Supper Club in honor of the state's unique culinary establishment.

On the other hand, Great Dane's German Pils was, I believe, once known as Verrückte Stadt, i.e. - Mad Town. Peck's Pilsner is named after the proprietor of Madison's first public house, Rosaline Peck. Rockhound Brewing (R.I.P.) had Greenbush Pale Ale, named after the neighborhood they resided in.

The Madison area's four lakes, State Street, the "lost city" of Lake Forest, flamingos, Frank Lloyd Wright**, the Capitol, et al provide plenty of fodder for beer monikers. But Madison area breweries generally eschew the local when it comes to beer names and labeling. Or is there some kind of Babcock beer with lactose that I've simply never seen? A hibiscus brew with pink flamingos on the label that has escaped me? Am I completely missing beer upon beer named after local places and people?

**My understanding is that Madison's House of Brews (R.I.P.) tried to use something FLW-related in a beer name and discovered his family was not keen on this.

Fill My Glass With That Doppelvision: Doppelvision by Milwaukee Brewing Company

February. It's cold outside and Shrovetide is ceding to Lent. For pagans/wiccans it's time to celebrate Imbolc and rejoice that spring is on its way. Now this - this is the time for a doppelbock. Luckily I had a bottle leftover from last year that I opened recently.

Milwaukee Brewing Company's Doppelvision is a doppelbock aged for a month in bourbon barrels. The bier is one of a handful of the brewery's Destination Local series which features stronger brews in 750ml bottles that are for sharing with a fellow faster, heathen, kith, or kin. This is the 2015 version which was released last spring in the cruelest month. The bottle has been biding its time in my cellar which is relatively cool and dark.

"Doppelbock" means "double bock", an extra strong version of an already fairly strong brew. The legend that I've always read and heard was that the bock was invented in the 17th century by the Paulaner monks in Munich. To tide themselves over Lent, they brewed a strong bier, a.k.a. - liquid bread – that became known as bock bier. At some point in the next century the bier got stronger and the monks called it "Salvator" after their savior. The "-ator" suffix would go on to become synonymous with the doppelbock.

The doppelbock emphasizes the malt. I mean, how much sustenance can you get from hops? They average around 7% A.B.V. but some are much stronger.

Doppelvision was a lovely reddish brown color and a bit lighter than I expected. I tend to think of doppelbocks as being dark biers and barrel aging to add even more darkness. These are, of course, misconceptions that addle my brain. In reality, doppelbocks probably tend to be darker than bocks but rarely have the ebony appearance of a stout. The bier was clear. My glass had a beauty of a head that was big, firm, and tan. It stuck around for about half a minute. There were bubbles everywhere inside the glass going upwards and onwards.

That the bier had been aged in bourbon barrels was undeniable from the aroma which had a pronounced booziness to it. Much to my delight, roasted grain and even some bitter chocolate were evident as well. Looking at the brewery's website I see that they used basically every malt they had lying around which included chocolate malt so these scents were unsurprising. Also unsurprising, but quite welcome, was the smell of caramel. Doppelvision was made with no less than four caramel malts.

The booze reappeared in the taste and gave it shades of smoke, wood, and vanilla. I felt that the bier had a good, big bourbon taste but I've certainly had barrel-aged beers that tasted like someone forgot to take out the bourbon before putting the beer in. Despite giving it the old college try, the whiskey could not keep the malt down as the bier had a big caramel flavor from all of those aforementioned malts. Underneath all of this was some roasted grain flavor too. The carbonation perhaps took the edge off of the sweetness and added a little tingling to my tongue.

On the finish all of those malty flavors faded allowing an unexpected burst of grassy hops to pop through the layers sweet, grainy goodness. The hops brought with them a little bit of bitterness. It was here that the bourbon gave off a little more than flavor with some alcohol heat coming through as well. My glass was left with some really nice Schaumhaftvermoegen. Thick strands and big splotches of foam lined my vessel.

With the boozy heat on the finish and the presence of the whiskey on the nose and my tongue, it is surprising that Doppelvision is only 8% A.B.V. It tastes bigger than that. Quite aside from the potency that the whiskey had endowed, I really enjoyed the flavor of wood and vanilla from the gentle aging process. They harmonized well with the myriad of malts flavors here. I also appreciated that Doppelvision wasn't very sweet. Big malty beers can become cloyingly so and the brewer deftly avoided that pitfall here.

Junk food pairing: Being a big bier, Doppelvision can handle heartier foods. You can't go wrong with pork rinds and/or cracklin'. I mean, German biers and pork go together like peanut butter and chocolate. I also would recommend some jalapeño or jalapeño & cheddar thick-cut potato chips.

A Catalogue of Tastes & Smells, Brewed in the City of Milwaukee, on the West Side of Lake Michigan: Increase Wheat from Milwaukee Brewing Co.

Last year at either a Craft Beer Week or a pre-Great Taste event the Milwaukee Brewing Company was pouring a new gooseberry Berliner Weisse. I thought it was rather tasty but was disappointed because it was available only in Milwaukee and, if I recall correctly, solely on draft. This year, however, the brew, christened Increase Wheat, has been bottled and given wider distribution.

The beer is named after Increase Lapham, the renowned 19th century naturalist and scientist who lived in Milwaukee. While his mailing address may have been in our state's largest city, Lapham surveyed the entirety of Wisconsin, reported on Native American effigy mounds, and catalogued the state's flora and fauna, including the gooseberry. (Lapham Elementary School here in Madison is named after him.)

Increase Wheat follows in the footsteps of several of Milwaukee Brewing Company's brews whose names refer to city landmarks and famous Milwaukeeans. It's nice to see them show pride in their city and expose people beyond John Gurda's reach to tidbits of the city's history. And in a time when many beer labels feature cartoon hop cone superheroes as well as scantily clad women, seeing Lapham and his level on the six pack holder is a refreshing change of pace.

I did my tasting on a fairly warm, sunny day which was perfect for the style and provided plenty of light for my snap which turned out not too shabbily.

Increase Wheat is a lovely yellow in color and is hazy. It is a wheat beer after all. As befits a "Champagne of the North", it's also very bubbly. My pour had a nice fluffy white head which stuck around. There was also a surfeit of bubbles making their way up the glass.

The aroma was marvelous with that characteristic lemony tartness complemented by gooseberry and grain. Milwaukee Brewing stayed true to style here and didn't brew a quad imperial Berliner Weisse. Increase weighs in at a typical 3.1% A.B.V. and the addition of rice helps give it a very light body. That citrusy/lemony sourness is right there leading the charge on your tongue but so the gooseberry which adds its own, slightly mellower and sweeter, tartness is not far behind. There's a goodly amount of sour here but it's not amped up so as to be threatening. You'll pucker, don't get me wrong, but swiftly adjust. Underneath it all is the wheat which gives a nice bready flavor here. In addition you can taste the carbonation which, along with the rice, adds a layer of dryness to it all.

Increase Wheat finishes as it began – tart. I found that the citrus tartness yielded to that of the gooseberries. There's not much hops to be had here. I suspect that the Tettnanger hops that are present just helped add to the overall dryness of the beer.

I thoroughly enjoy Increase Wheat. Here in the summer heat it proves to be exquisitely refreshing. It gets points from me for its dual tartness attack with a sharp, citrusy sour rubbing up against the gooseberry's blunter, sweeter contribution. The sour flavors are like paint with the light graininess providing the canvas. There's always that wheat for the tartness to prop itself upon and to provide a little contrast and texture too.

Junk food pairing: Berliner Weisse is a light style so you want something fairly easy going to pair with it. Try some Funyuns with your Increase Wheat. It's got that root vegetable thing going on for starters. The overall flavor won't overpower the beer while the beer will cut the salt. Plus salt & sour is simply a fantastic combination.

Oh Herr Sedlmayr, What Have They Done? Hoptoberfest by Milwaukee Brewing Company

It's December so now is the time to clear out the Oktoberfests, right?

Hoptoberfest is a Märzen from Milwaukee Brewing Company and, as the name implies, it has more hops than your average Oktoberfest.

In your glass, it has a nice reddish amber color and I got a nice, foamy head that lingered when I poured it. Taking a whiff, the malt came across as both caramel and biscuit, slightly more of the former. You can catch the hops in the nose too with it being herbally inclined.

Hoptoberfest has a medium body but it tasted a bit lighter than I'm used to in a Märzen. It has a moderate malt sweetness with some nutty overtones. So far, so good. The hop flavor is moderately high in general and very high for the style. You get a good dose here of grassy hops with a liminal floral accent underneath to boot.

When I bought this beer I was a bit nervous because I wasn't sure if the HOP bit meant tilting the scales away from the malt sweetness which typically gets the nod with Oktoberfests or if it was going to be a Märzen with the hops really jacked up. It's towards the latter here. A lot more hops (and more alcohol too with its 6% ABV being just above the high end of the range for the style.) While I'm not a purist who thinks tradition shouldn't be tampered with, Hoptoberfest just didn't do it for me. Either it needs a bigger malt backbone or the hops should be dialed back a little bit. Almost everything about this beer was clean like a good lager should be, but the bitterness simply overpowered the malt and got in the way of a nice dry finish.

Junk food pairing: I'd go with a good Indian snack mix. Let the curry leaves, coriander, and other aromatic spices balance out the bitterness.