Of all the snobbish, nose-in-the-air columns I’ve read:
this has to be the worst. Beer drinkers are people too, Mr. I-have-a-mass-spectrometer-in-MY-man-cave-and-you-don’t. How about some equal treatment. Get yourself a 12-pack of [commercial endorsement withdrawn] and have some of your underpaid staff members see if they can tell the difference between beer and camel urine. You’ll see …
Either the OP needs a drink, or the OP has had too much to drink already.
watchwolf49: the question posed was about seeing bottles of whiskey and cognac priced at over $2000. Cecil therefore discussed whisky (as a generic, he mainly used scotch) and wines, which do sometimes sell for ridiculous prices. So far as I am aware, beer is not sold at $1000 per six-pack, so doesn’t come into the discussion.
He does say that “at the low end” it’s easy to differentiate – he used “rotgut from decent stuff.” That includes the difference between cheap beer and camel piss. He answered what he was asked. I don’t see any snobbery or elitism in that.
If you’re interested in beer-tasting, perhaps I’ll call you post to his attention, and see if he thinks it worth a column.
At $800 a bottle comes to $4800 a six-pack. If one bottle = one jigger, that’s the better part of $20,000 for an equal amount of boozing. There’s a bit of philanthropy here obviously, but even at $200 a bottle we’re still in the ballpark. Antarctic melt water must be expensive.
I used to drink a certain brand brewed in Washington State. When I moved to Western Carolina, the stuff just tasted bad, like … real bad. Turns out the eastern markets were served by the brewery in St Louis. “It’s the water” … and not much more.
I see your point, Dex, I really do … but more can be said. Next time I’m in that part of the country, I’d be happy to line up a couple dozen microbrews and see if we can tell the difference, and I’ll cover cab fare home, eh?
I’ve done beer-tasting in Germany, and yes, even I with my amateur palate can certainly taste differences among beers. But again, that wasn’t the point of Cecil’s column.
OK, I concede, there are some expensive beers, but they’re not common. Wines, it’s not hard to find $200 per bottle or over in your local neighborhood liquor store. It’s not hard to find $1000 per bottle and over being sold at auction. And that was the question. Beers, you’ve got a few made from rare water. I suppose a beer made from mastadon piss would be quite expensive, for that matter. 
For your info, both Cecil and Ed Zotti ARE beer-drinkers. I think your comment about snobbishness was unduly harsh and largely irrelevant (that’s me speaking on a personal basis, that’s NOT a moderator-comment). Cecil usually answers what he is asked, and didn’t expand to beer, soda, Orange Juices, or bottled water.
Let’s see.
Let me take a sip of Budwiser…
Now a sip of Coors…
Now a sip of Miller…
And finally a sip of camel urine…
Nope. Can’t tell the difference.
Ironically, American Beer hasn’t been better. Of course, I’m talking about the various microbreweries all around this great nation. Each with its own flavor. Even the Germans are impressed. Meanwhile, the top brands have been having a big slide in sales over the last five years. Budwiser sales have dropped almost 30%. The overall trend in Beer is to drink less, but better. Overall sales are down, but craft beer sales are rapidly rising.
Maybe there is hope for mankind after all.
Amusingly, Antarctic ice in beverages just came up at my new year’s party. One of the guys has made trips there looking for meteorites.
The interesting ice is the stuff that has been compressed and migrated under the ice pack, then pushed back up when it runs into mountain ridges. It’s blue because much of the air has been pressed out. Apparently it also fizzes when mixed with a beverage.
Hauling that stuff from the ice sheet back to McMurdo station and then out on ships - yeah, I can see that getting expensive.