It's the same with many hard liquors and whiskeys. I used to be a beer person, although I went through a wine phase in the late 80s, early 90s, from 21 to 23 years old. But my primary motivation for drinking was to get buzzed and socialize at parties, etc. I went through a phase where I became an aficionado of microbrewed beers and top quality imports, starting in the mid 80s, literally a decade b4 the "microbrew fad" became a thing!
We would go to parties with premium beers, and receive strange looks and curious questions from other people who'd never heard of what we were drinking, even at yuppie/preppie parties! Back then almost no one had heard of microbrews, or the premium imports!
We'd buy mixed 6 packs of various top grade beers from 1 of only 2 liquor stores in the entire region who actually carried them! We'd go to parties in 1986-90 with beer made by Pilsner Urquell, Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, Hofbrau, South Pacific, Hacker-Pschorr, Penn Pilsner, New Amsterdam Amber, or even Samuel Smith's, a British beer that literally cost double that of other premium beers, at $12 a 6-pack(in 1987 dollars no less)!