Aaron Voskuil
If it weren’t for the neon sign above the door, you almost wouldn’t notice that the former Cardinal Bar changed ownership and became Nomad World Pub three months ago. Save some new tables, updated equipment and a few more TVs, it’s pretty much the same place many in Madison know and love.
“The new owners tried to keep the same feel,” says bar manager Spike Garrett. “I like to tell people everything is pretty much the same — just a little better.”
Garrett, who started working at the Cardinal as a bartender seven years ago, kept many of the bar’s signature drinks on the cocktail menu, including former owner Ricardo Gonzalez’s famous sangria. It’s a 41-year-old recipe made with brandy, red wine and fruit. Other cocktail offerings have a similarly international flair — caipirinha, mojito, pisco sour, paloma, margarita. The Nacional, a fruity, rum-based concoction named for the Hotel Nacional in Cuba, is one of the most popular drinks, Garrett says. Nomad also has a great happy hour deal on weeknights. Apparently famous in Milwaukee, the “1-2-3” or “stoplight” deal features $1 drinks from 4 to 4:19 p.m., $2 drinks from 4:20 to 4:39 p.m. and $3 from 4:40 to 5 p.m.
The beer offerings, on the other hand, have changed considerably. The Cardinal Bar had only Wisconsin beers on tap, but Nomad has added 14 new tap lines and brought in brews from craft breweries like Bell’s, Ballast Point, Three Floyds and New Belgium. Making room to install the new taps required cutting a hole in the antique wooden bar, which is from 1908. “Watching them do it, I just about had a heart attack,” Garrett says.
Nomad has also expanded the selection of European beers, fueled largely by demand from the soccer-viewing crowd. The bar shows many of the major games, sometimes opening as early as 6 a.m. to accommodate the European league schedule. Carlsberg, the official beer of the English Premier League, is a top seller.
Garrett says the scene is gaining traction. “The soccer crowd has grown three times as big as it was when we first opened,” he says.