The repeal took place during the Depression, and then there was World War II. That's not going to help market expansion. Plus, national brands used to be harder

The repeal took place during the Depression, and then there was World War II. That's not going to help market expansion. Plus, national brands used to be harder to establish. In the early 1900s, transportation costs were much higher. While there were national brands, glass bottles and water are heavy. Plus, bottles used to be reused. See http://refillables.grrn.org/content/americas-experience-refillable-beverage-containers http://refillables.grrn.org/content/americas-experience-refi... : > As soon as packaged beer became popular in the mid-1930s, cans competed with refillable glass bottles for the market. The figure and table show how the rise of metal cans and a fluctuating but significant demand for one-way bottles concurred with the decline of refillable bottles. One-way containers helped national beer companies conquer the U.S. market, and their conquest further diminished the use of refillable glass bottles. Marketing national brands also became easier with the rise of popularity of radio and TV in the 1950s. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-budweiser-became-the-king-of-beers-an-evolution-of-advertising-2012-3?op=1&IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/how-budweiser-became-the-king... comments: > Budweiser had its glory days in the 1950s when Anheuser-Busch helped strengthen its national brand by sponsoring shows featuring Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, and Frank Sinatra. It also promoted its beer by sponsoring sporting events and branding stadiums. By the 1980s, Budweiser was synonymous with American culture. Here's an essay about the decline of regional breweries in Cincinnati - http://www.wcpo.com/entertainment/local-a-e/cincinnatis-rise-and-fall-as-a-brewery-town-part-2great-experiment-ends-breweries-make-a-comeback http://www.wcpo.com/entertainment/local-a-e/cincinnatis-rise... . It shows that regional brands were popular pre-Prohibition, and my summary of it is that decreasing marketing and transport costs gave more weight to the economy of scale for the national brands. http://tapsmagazine.com/in-this-issue/the-rise-of-national-brands/ http://tapsmagazine.com/in-this-issue/the-rise-of-national-b... might be useful, but non-subscribers like me only see "The 1950s witnessed the emergence of national brands, as the nation’s biggest brewers aggressively promoted their flagship beers from coast to coast."