BeerAdvocate Age Ranges Broken Down (2019)

A big part of the answer is that craft beer (aka microbrews) were much cheaper. With the big three hoarding shelf space, micro's had to price competitively. Your typical six pack of goose island or victory was probably around $5.99/six in the mid/late 90's. Maybe even more surprising, bombers ran about $3-$4. In college, i'd start of with something "nice" like a bomber of Rogue Hazelnut Nectar or Red Hook Double Black stout before switching to keystone light

even into probably 2003, i could get a sixer of three floyds in chicago for $6.99 (Prestige liquors under the Diversey Brown Line stop) . prices started going up after that.

plus, there weren't really any special releases and one-offs that commanded high dollars. Most breweries had a core line-up of six to 10 beers and that was it. i imagine that helped keep costs down.

Okay, Boomer! not a boomer...

 

This sounds familiar...