Pity. 
Hmm, that’s MGD territory. I’m not quite that desperate yet.
Come to Houston. https://www.saintarnold.com/year-round-beers/#lawnmower
It’s good, I promise. The higher octane version, Weedwhacker, is even better. Edit: and out of production since 2018. Bummer.
Plenty of Bud around here. All the bars that have Miller should also have Bud (though Old Style is my drink when it comes to lawnmower beers.)
On the South Side, even the fancy pants, Bib Gourmand-rated restaurants sell $3 cans of Hamm’s. Seriously, look at the beverages menu. No Bud though.
Yeah, the Duck Inn is a bit of a hipstery (though not overly so) place in gentrifying Bridgeport.) I pass by it almost every day during the school year, and they do have a Hamm’s sign prominently displayed in their window. But pretty much all the local non-froufrou neighborhood bars I’ve been to have both Bud and Miller around here, if not on tap, then in bottles. Coors is a bit more difficult to find (though the Duck Inn does have that as one of their choices–they’re being a bit cute picking Hamms and Coors to go with the Miller beer as their lawnmower beers instead of Bud and Old Style. Though, to be honest, I can’t remember the last tap Old Style I’ve had–all bottles around here that I could think of.)
That said, most of the North Side hipster joints also do seem to have a cheapie lawnmower beer on offer. PBR was the usual one, but I’ve also seen Hamm’s up there.
For the decidedly non-hipster, neighborhood bars around here: Here is Illinois Bar and Grill, a block and a half from me. Note the far left tap: Bud Light. Here’s Michaels on 45th and Archer. Note the Miller and Bud signs in the window. My usual place, the Chateau (on 47th & Springfield, which closed down four years ago), had exactly two beers on tap: Bud Light and Miller Lite. Stanley’s in Back of the Yards (RIP Wanda), no Bud drafts, but Bud bottles available.
You’re certainly more likely to see MGD and Miller branding and specials around here, but the places I go to all seem to at least offer Bud in bottles, if not draft.
Damn, I passed by a place today near Berwyn (or perhaps in Berwyn) with a Stroh’s sign out front. I totally forgot about that beer! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted it. I do see a couple of the Binny’s outlets stock it, so it may not just be for decoration. (Also passed by two more bars on 47th here in the neighborhood with Bud Light signs either in the window or out front, so there’s no lack of Bud here, if that’s your lawnie of choice.)
Well, Newcastle is the only beer I’ve ever bought and thrown away because of how lousy it was. Watery and unpleasant were the only words I could use to decribe it with. Now, perhaps it had gone off, but they chose to package an ale in clear glass, so maybe that’s on them.
I’m not a huge Lagunitas fan, but always been fine with their beers, so this might warrant a try.
Bud is hard to come by on the south side for…reasons.
Except it’s not. Am I being whooshed or something? Is it because it’s a “Cubs” beer or something? Like I said, every single bar I regularly go to in my part of town (Midway area, Archer Heights/47th/Pulaski to be more precise.) has Bud, and the one I go to the most has Bud Lite on draft. Regardless, I thought your initial complain was a general lack of lawnmower beer at the hipster bars. No lack of lawnmower beers here (although as I said before, even the North Side hipster bars seem to all have at least one $2 or $3 lawnmower beer for those “slumming” it.)
Two different conversations. Those high-falutin beer snobberies can and do exist everywhere, but are probably at their highest density in Logan Square, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square areas. You CAN find plenty of bars with lawnmower beers anywhere, but these places that try to take some preachy moral stand by loudly refusing to carry them can piss right off. Offering the token PBR can for $5 does not absolve them of the sin.
There’s an entirely separate issue with the availability of Bud products in certain south and northwest side neighborhoods. Again, it’s by no means universal, but if you pay close attention you’ll find a lot of bars that explicitly do not carry it for personal and political reasons that have nothing to do with with beer snobbery. Things have changed in the last 4 years so that bias is eroding, but it’s still there.