Why no Budweiser at the Woodlawn Tap?

 Why no Budweiser at the Woodlawn Tap?

The Woodlawn Tap at 55th and Woodlawn will likely be jammed today as the famous Hyde Park tavern celebrates its 75th anniversary. It’s fondly and more well known as Jimmy’s, after Jimmy Wilson who opened in 1948. Wilson had been a bartender in one of a dozen or more gin mills along 55th Street in Hyde Park before urban renewal gentrified the neighborhood.

If you stop in today, don’t ask the barkeep for a Budweiser. She’ll likely point a finger at the picture over the far end of the bar containing the only existence there of the King of Beers. And that won’t be her forefinger, more likely its neighbor. The pic contains an aging flyer for Bud. In the lower right is a hand shaped prop with the middle finger extended skyward. And it’s not to denote Bud is No. 1.

It’s been there for most of Jimmy’s 75 years. Why? Back in the day before the avalanche of boutique beers, most taverns carried one brand on tap, among the few major beers such as Miller High Life, Hamm’s, Old Style, Meister Brau, Schlitz and of course Bud. Jimmy opened up with Old Style. One day a Bud distributor dropped in and tried to convert Jimmy to Bud. Jimmy politely declined but the Bud brute hinted that Jimmy’s large glass windows might meet an unfortunate accident. Jimmy tossed him out and told his Old Style distributor. He assured Jimmy that his muscle would keep an eye on the joint till the threat was over.

And nearly 75 years on, an aging reminder over the bar still signals that Bud is not on the menu at the Woodlawn Tap