Am I the only one who is totally fine with Anchorage (or whoever) charging as much as they want for a beer? Go ahead and charge $75 for a 375ml. I mean, there's no fucking way I'd pay that, but look at wine or mead or whisk(e)y, and all of those markets have recognized that there is a very high ceiling of what people will pay per ounce. Sure, beer is slightly different because it should probably be finished in a single session, but that just shows that it makes all the more sense to bottle in 375ml.
First off, beer has been a historically democratic drink - it's the cheap booze of the people. This seems to explain the pearl clutching when someone releases a $75/375ml or a $100 12oz. However, look at the secondary prices out there - there is a market for people who will pay hundreds of dollars for sugar water. Why should all of the cash go to those with no talent/art/skill/whatever other than standing in line as opposed to those who actually craft the product?
The other thing about breweries charging more for beers is that there will not be the instantaneous sell-out that we see for so many hype releases (which are then flipped for hundreds of dollars on secondary). Price out the secondary market, these beers will be available for longer, which will actually provide greater access to those who want them (not just those who can instantly pay for them), and beer will be democratized again (though differently).
There will always be lots of $15-30 BA stouts and barleywines out there.
I was just about to post something like this. Moreover, so long as they can actually sell the beer at a reasonable clip (and so aren't pissing off stores/distributors too much with expensive product collecting dust), I don't blame them one bit. With regards to Anchorage in particular, I commend them for smartly capitalizing on the whole "Barleywine is Life" trend and the willingness of so many in that group/scene/hashtag to blow obscene amounts of cash to avert FOMO/keep up with what everyone else is posting/etc. And I've done this on occasions myself, I certainly won't pretend my shit doesn't stink when it comes to following trends and wanting to be a participant. But were it not for that, I doubt they'd have anywhere near as big a market for $70 375mls. And the fact that they make this stuff available online over sites like Tavour probably helps too: more people can and do get it (being at home with disposable cash during the pandemic surely doesn't hurt here...), so more people are posting pics of them cracking these bottles, which just serves to drive the FOMO of everyone else: "man everyone is drinking these but me and they are not hard to get, all I need to do is not be cheap and throw down the cash."