Would y’all consider a $27 750ml bottle of something around 40% ABV expensive??

My older brother is calling me stupid for spending so much on a bottle of alcohol but I say that unless my math is wrong, that’s like 17 typical 5% beers so the price seems alright to me, he says that beer and hard liquor are incomparable and that I’m better off buying cheaper stuff. I’m 21 and fairly new to alcohol, a while ago I bought small bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila because of its price and my mom said to throw it away cuz it’s garbage and I might feel sick from it so I instead bought another better brand of tequila. She said that when it comes to alcohol, don’t be cheap because you’ll pay for it later. I don’t know which side is right, is $27 too much for this? That is the highest price I’ve spent recently for 750 ml of 40% ABV