Abstract
In this article, I describe the partial forward integration of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Boston breweries. I argue that rather that both brewers and saloonkeepers used the fluid market in capital lending as a lever of power. An analysis of over ten years of the minutes of three breweries and their loan records reveals that saloonkeepers were often delinquent in repaying their annual loans, and brewery owners only infrequently threatened to call the loans. Using the structure-conduct-performance paradigm, I suggest that the particular conditions of Boston (a limited number of saloon licenses and a geographical position that precluded long-distance shipping of beer) gave the saloonkeepers much greater leverage in the so-called “tied system.” Brewers used vertical restraints but, because of obligations to British owners, did not fully forward integrate by buying saloon property like brewers in the United Kingdom.