Having ordered my CD it was off for some refreshment. My destination was Tangent where one could get a glass of cold gruit. Gruit refers to beer flavored with herbs, flowers, and spices that aren't hops. In this case I was looking at a sour ale made with mugwort, heather tips, and sweet, sweet gale. It is wonderful to see such a beer in a world where it seems that most craft beers are either so fruity as to be indistinguishable from Boone's Farm or have had all malt flavor drained from it in pursuit of tasting like a spirit and/or a pastry. But there was still walking to be done before I could take some libation.
Heading down Winnebago Street I stopped to look at all of the new apartments.
Most, if not all, of that space used to be vacant lots. But Madison keeps growing.
And here's the mural on Trinity Lutheran Church.
This is the front of the church.
Notice that it has that same material as St. Bernard did – that faux stacked shale or whatever you call it. After you notice it once, you see it a fair amount around town. Take a gander at the south side of University Avenue west of Farley Avenue and you'll see it – the well, Smoky's Club, and Century House, for example.
No one reading this series of blog posts should be at all surprised to learn that it didn't take me long to run into another Sid Boyum sculpture. In that greenspace bounded by First and Winnebago Streets and Eastwood Drive we find "Geometric With Round Window".
Across the street on Winnebago is a house whose front yard looks like this:
Nice and overgrown with a clutch of wreaths. But how do the occupants get mail delivered?
The sidewalk on Merry Street has a wonderfully enveloping canopy.
At the river, where Winnebago ends and Williamson Street begins, there is a utility box that has been artified.
I'm not sure when the practice began here in Madison but they're a common sight today.
Here's the mural on the side of Banzo Shük.
Presumably it was done by the same person that did the mural for Next Door Brewing.
On the east/south side there's a poem to be found in the sidewalk.
A bit farther down the street is a mural that has seen better days. I do not recall this one in its full glory.
Café Coda was rockin' when I passed by.
I honestly had no idea that CBD was popular enough to warrant a shop dedicated to it but that it certainly the case on Willy Street.
Indeed it is so popular that it apparently merits multiple stores dedicated to it as another one will be opening in the former Mad Cat space just down the street from Quality CBD.
A couple days later I was informed that there was already a second CBD joint open on Willy Street. Apparently, my focus on taking snaps of murals and ghost signs (and walking on the other side of the street) led me to miss it. So that makes three hemphouses dedicated to the stuff within a few blocks of one another and surely the Willy Street Co-op carries it as well. Uff da!
Here are most of the rest of the murals and ghost signs of Willy Street.
The Social Justice Center
It's nice to see something dedicated to Otis Redding beyond the plaque at the Terrace.
The latest in Mother Fools rotating series of murals.
Restored not too long ago, I think the sign dates back to the 1950s. Gardner's Bakery used to be just 2 or 3 blocks away.
Pig in a Fur Coat
Plan B's, er, sorry - Prism's mural has a couple rough patches. Perhaps the new owners will get that fixed.
This building is a city landmark. It's was Biederstaedt-Breitenbach Grocery and built in 1874.
Reaching Livingston Strasse it was time to leave Willy St. My gruit was almost within reach. While the isthmus' industrial past is fading, the power plant is sure to be there for some time to come.
Hey you, Appling
Ha, ha, charade you are
Julaine you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry
Ramblin' past Madison's newest concert auditorium, The Sylvee, I was getting mighty thirsty.
Taking a seat at the Tangent bar, I was hot, a bit sweaty, and parched. A tap list was put in front of me but it wasn't needed. "Barkeep, one gruit, please!"
Malty sweet, a bit tart, and full of floral/herbal goodness without a cone of Citra hops in sight. That's a mighty fine beer. I'd read a review of Tangent's food which was not particularly flattering but, having worked up an appetite, I ordered some grub anyway. I can tell you that the chopped salad was quite tasty.
After my brief respite and with my journey halfway done, I moseyed out the front door and began trekking down East Washington.
The journey continues...
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