during that same time frame you could get a case of 24 12 oz. bottles of Hamms for $4.99. There was one of those old school full service pharmacies right by my house called Joe's Drugs, and I bought many of cases of Hamms there for $4.99. After the first 8 or 10 you couldn't real tell the difference.
Then in the late 1980s when the Arabics started buying up all the convient and party stores in the Detroit area they'd have one section of the cooler where they had all these different 40 ounce bottles of beer, and they'd have a sign on the door that would read something like "Any 3 40 ouncers behind this glass door for $5.00". They'd have brands like Old Milwaukee, Red, White & Blue, Milwaukee's Best, etc., etc., etc. behind that glass door. Back then when money was tight 120 ounces of beer for $5 was a great deal.
Does anybody remember Lowenbrau Beer? People actually thought they were drinking a German import, and back in the 1980s the Lowenbrau they were selling in the U.S. was actually made by I believe Miller or Budweiser.
That's sort of like Killian's Red Beer today. A lot of people think they're drinking an European beer when they're drinking Killian's Red, and it's made by Coors in the U.S.