I find it funny how every single European brewer thinks that their country is the only one that knows how to brew beer properly. Or anything else. In America, there’s such an incredible diversity that there is not much value in reducing the whole country to such generalizations.
Interestingly, the 5th most expensive beer in history was from Belgium. The De Cam & 3 Fonteinen Millennium Geuze. So no, Belgium isn’t immune to ridiculously priced beer.
The point I was making is that there is a wide range of price points available for beer (like most products). I started by defending the existence of the low-end, cheap beer. Once you get to a certain point, you’re paying for a weird gimmick or status symbol more than the quality. This isn’t some weird American quirk, but a global phenomenon.