Is 8 Ball Inflation-Proof?

Following on Peter’s post about whether alcohol is or is not an inferior good, I noticed at the gas station this morning that malt liquor prices appear not to have changed much since I was a consumer in the mid-1990s. A 40 oz of Old English or Colt 45 costs between $1.50 and $1.75, which seems close to what I remember as the going rate. According to the BLS, $1.50 in 1992 has the buying power of $2.28 today, so malt liquor prices appear to have escaped inflation. This even though at -0.79, price elasticity of demand is fairly inelastic, presumably for all the obvious and depressing reasons.