Many individuals are quite confident in knowing their favorite liquors. They may have tried it once and because of the higher price or elegant bottle, they decide that it's one of their favorites. I am excluding beer from this article because I really do believe that the typical drinker is able to tell the significant differences between the good and bad of beer. But some liquors on the other hand, not as likely.
My roommate and I pick up a bottle of two similar liquors every week right after our last class. We set up a taste testing laboratory and try each of the liquors first. We also smell them to get another sense of difference between them. Pretty similar as we both thought we could call the difference even if we didn't know which one was which. The best example was when we picked up Jim Beam and Jack Daniels. Two relatively higher end Whiskeys. Both delicious. My roommate did the test first. He walked into the other room while I poured a shot of each. He came back and picked one up, smelled it, and drank it. Then he tried the other and did the same. He guessed and was wrong. When I did it, I was correct, but I wasn't completely confident when I guessed.
All I'm saying is, you should try taste testing some different liquors to really see if you can tell the differences in quality. You'd be surprised. I'm excited to try out cheap vodkas next.