It's true that "taste" and price might not be correlated b/c as you say, people might not agree on what tastes good to them regardless of the price. But people tend to "like" the taste of foods and beverages that they are familiar with. If they're accustomed to the taste of $20/bottle rum (or whatever), then hit them with something that's $50-$60/bottle and it might taste "funny." Try some "blind" wine tasting with a group of friends and you'll see what I mean. Short of scamming one's customers as you describe, the price is driven by the mark-up over the cost of production & distribution initially, and then potentially by the ensuring rareness of the product. Older vintages of wines, for example, tend to increase in price (ahead of inflation) b/c there are fewer and fewer of the bottles on the market as time goes on, etc. A rum aged 10 yr costs more to produce than one aged 8 yr, so would be more expensive even if there was no discernible difference in "goodness of taste", etc. "Limited Editions" cost more b/c they are short production runs with a concomitantly higher cost of production per bottle, etc. [This would certainly be true if they were all spoiled batches!] They are, in effect, novelty items themselves b/c few people have 'em, so are not seen much.
If you drink what the vast majority of Americans believes tastes good, you'd be drinking the rum equivalent of Budweiser--I guess that might be Bacardi or Cap't Morgan. Blandness of taste in foods and beverages is popular b/c such products do not "offend" the weak palates of the non-adventurous. If you want to impress a friend--get 'em something "new and different" to experience, even if it is a "Limited Edition." At the least s/he will have a nice-looking bottle of barely touched "Limited Edition" rum to sit in the liquor cabinet forever to remind of you!!
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