The Beer Institute said in a statement that it considered its standards adequate.

In January, the Beer Institute created an independent review panel to evaluate complaints against beer advertising.

Mr. Becker of the Beer Institute said that when a company said an ad was no longer running, it meant a review was unnecessary.

But under pressure from the Beer Institute, which feared that being lumped in with "unrelated" products would stigmatize beer, the council backed off.

With Anheuser-Busch and the Beer Institute also weighing in, the hearings were postponed several times, then dropped altogether.

Other brewers are relying on the Beer Institute to do the job.

"We generated well over a million letters," said Jeff Becker, a spokesman for the Beer Institute, the industry group behind the highly visible can-the-beer-tax campaign.

The market share figure was provided by the Beer Institute, an industry group.

He retired after six terms in Congress and became the president of the Beer Institute.

"We do not condone illegal under-age drinking under any circumstances," said Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute.