Albertson's Inc. and Kroger Co. are among only a few retailers trying the private-label beer strategy, Schuhmacher said, "but I don't think they've been very successful because consumers are very image-conscious when they're drinking beer, and most want a national brand." This is not a new phenomena. 30 years ago, I worked in a grocery store that sold its own private label beer.
It was from the bottom of the vat of a now-defunct local brewery. Their "brand-name" beer was bad enough, and the private label beer was terrible.
The only people that bought it were the alcoholics that couldn't afford anything else.
I remember when I lived in St. Louis that a local chain of liquor stores sold its own brand of beer (905 Beer), which was made by Pittsburgh Brewing Co., makers of Iron City Beer (aka lighter fluid). Yuck.