[FearNotDaniel]

Reminds me of the time I tricked my housemate years ago by drinking his fancy single malt scotch then replacing the contents with some really cheap Spanish whisky. He came home took a sip and said "aaah, you can't beat the taste of a fine Scottish single malt". The bottle and label were enough to convince him it tasted good.

(NB I'm not claiming there is no difference in flavour and quality - there absolutely is - but it's interesting how easily suggestible people are by the external appearance)

[throwaway2037]

I am shocked how good is a 10 USD bottle of whisky or Japanese shochu or wine these days. I think the science of making booze has improved so much in the last couple of decades.

[mtts]

This.

In my student days, thirty years ago, you would have to be careful buying wine from a supermarket as it could be borderline undrinkable.

Nowadays? Not so much. Even the cheapest swill is drinkable. Not really nice or flavorful, but certainly not disgusting.