In 1985, Americans spent $38 billion to buy 183 million barrels of beer.1 Of their
expenditure, 12% was applied to taxes, 42% to retailers' margins, 12% to wholesalers' margins, and
the remainder to beer at (net) wholesale prices. Domestic producers supplied 96% of the market
at an average wholesale price of $67 per barrel. The rest of this section describes the ways in
which the major U.S. brewers made and sold beer, and the industry structure that had resulted.