Tuesdays with Beer: The Sportsman's Bar

7:10 PM at the Sportsman's Bar, Matt Groce and Brett Hoffman have a drink.

We've been here before, but not often. Last time, we were forced out by a rancid smell emanating from the salad bar. Spinach that had gone bad decades before. Tonight, there was no such smell, maybe because they've moved that same salad bar over to the Sportsman's Lounge restaurant down the street.

We were greeted by music as we walked in, a surprising and welcome development. Last week at the Trojan Tap, the line was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Not so at the happening Sportsman's this week. Eminem raps about White America and a small crowd of off duty Gehl employees make small talk around the bar. Matt says, "This is where you go for a drink between batches of cooking methamphetamine." True, but not necessarily a bad thing.

Not only was there music to greet us at this bar, but actual people as well. A local town drunk raised his glass to us and mumbled something about "my beer!" Right back at you, man! And look over there, a black man! It's the most diverse bar in Madison.

We walked up to the bar and ordered two Boulevards from the tap. Also available was Bud, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Bud Light, and Amber Bock. Our two beers cost $1.50 each, and absurdly low price. This is a place to drink on a budget. Suck on that Minneapolis! Also, available in bottles were Summit IPA and Summit Octoberfest. Wine was on hand as well--Arbor Mist and Sutter Home.

The money you save can be spent at one of the eight video lottery machines. The bartender told us he had seen people drop $700 in a machine. That's 466 and 2/3 beers! Tonight there was only one guy playing the machines. He smoked an e-cigarette while he played. There's also a pool table and a (working) dart machine.

On the walls was a staggering collection of mirror paintings. You know, the weird amalgam art form that is part mirror, part wildlife painting? There was a lot of that at Sportsman's, and the bar is better for it. Mixed with the wood paneling, it gives the bar a glow. This is your uncle's man-room in his basement. It's a place for working people to feel comfortable. We were out of the ordinary in our sweaters, but not out of place.

The bartender deserves a note of his own. He evidently doesn't work too often, because the regulars seemed surprised to see him behind the counter. But he was a charming older guy in a plaid shirt, with a rag hanging out of his back pocket. He was nervous talking to us, but clearly a good guy, and I bet a real character if you got to know him. He is small town bartender of your dreams. He took our word that we were over 21. The glasses hanging above him in the bar probably haven't been used in 20 years.

You can bring your big-city friends here, though it's hard to say why I am so comfortable saying that. Like it's cousin across the street, Foley's, this bar is natural and at-home in Madison. For whatever reason, this is not the place where most people I know tend to go, but it could easily have become my default bar if I knew more people that went there. In some ways, it is the inverse of the Trojan Tap--not conscientiously drawing any particular crowd. Under the prairie sky, this is the kind of bar where devils and angels come to sit, have a drink, and put their differences behind them for a few hours.