Rant about beer

I have a few thoughts about the current state of beer retail (i.e. cases of cans/bottles, not off the tap at a pub) and was curious if others agreed.

I think the selection of affordable beers has been reduced, while styles that used to be affordable are now extremely boutique. Here's a few examples, with reference to Dan Murphy's as that's where I've done most of my purchasing (if there are better retailers at a similar price point, feel free to make suggestions):

- James Squire used to have a full range of beers that included a porter, an american pale ale, amber ale, and a pilsner. These are all still available on tap at the Squire's Landing in Sydney.

What can you buy in a case now? Two pale ales, a zero alcohol, and a lager.

- Endeavour range no longer available to buy retail (if they are, tell me where). Several others seems to have disappeared off the shelf too.

- Styles such as amber ales and porters used to be available from several breweries in cases of 24 at a reasonable price. Now, if available at all, they're $70+ for a case of 16 or $95+ for a case of 24.

- While styles like kolsch and porters seem to be disappearing, there's a saturation of different types of ales that are fairly new - summer ale, pacific ale, refreshing ale, steam ale etc. These seem like marketing names for beers that are all the same style, but are trying to sell themselves as different styles. Am I wrong? Is a "pacific ale" as distinct as a IPA?

- Cases being reduced to 18 and 16, with what seems like a comparatively small reduction in price. Seems like shrinkflation - I tried to compare with the wayback machine but it wasn't working for me. I'll grant that selling boutique beers in cases of 16 is logical, but it seems to be a growing trend.

So is this all enshittification or just changing consumer tastes? Do people not like amber ales anymore?Anyone else bothered by this or am I just complaining about imaginary shit?