My view is that we've crossed a line such that proximity/access to the product is now a bigger focus than the product itself. Or at least that's true for many. People just want to rack up fictional "equity" for being in the general atmosphere of rare products more than they want to drink high quality product that is readily available. And look, I'm not at all butt hurt that I don't have access to bottle XYZ. I bought (at MSRP) and killed the Van Winkle 23 "Family Selection" that went for $50k in a charity auction last year. It was unquestionably phenomenal. But it didn't grant me any special powers, and it didn't redefine what good whiskey is for me either.
This whole bourbon explosion is just another symptom of how pervasive FOMO is in our culture. People inherently want that which they cannot have, but the truth is that those rare bottles of whiskey are just an exercise in the optimization of the final 1-2%. It'd be great if the product in the glass was the focus, but I'm not naive enough to believe that we're ever getting back to that point.