What does it mean to be a noble snob? The flagrant opposition between the two terms seems to suggest that we are dealing with an oxymoron. However, Casian from snoblesse.ro seems to have found a balance.
For him, nobility refers to the educated man's obligation to treat others with elegance and respect, especially the inferior. And snobbism outlines an attitude of superficiality in relation to the important things and a frivolous desire to be fashionable.
Thus, the noble snob is a person who handles exquisite things with courtesy, but has rather shallow knowledge of them. Suggestive of this interpretation is precisely the description that Casian makes to the blog's target audience, namely, that they are people who want an introduction to the culture of fine beverages, but don't have the time or the will to read the specialized books.
Casian wants his blog to be accessible even to those who desire only the amount of knowledge that would impress their friends. We can make our own initiation into the whiskey culture with the help of the interview given by Casian, who talks about how his passion for this drink came about and about its consumption in our country.
You are passionate about quality drinks, including whiskey. How was your passion for whiskey born and how would you define such a passion?
Whisky is a drink that I discovered by accident and I needed time to appreciate its true value. It's a drink that you can appreciate only after you have passed the stage of drinking from the shelves of large retail chains and become informed about the history, about the people who prepare it and search for it in earnest. Real whiskey is not exactly a cheap drink (this is mostly because of the huge taxes and excises on alcohol - almost 50% of the price consists of these fees) but it requires persistence, culture, and friends with whom you can savor it. Passion cannot be born in a short time and is usually guided by someone who knows the secrets of the beverage. That is why it's a complex experience, but it pays off.
How would you describe/define the Romanian whiskey consumer?
Romanian consumers in this market are still relatively few. I am not referring to those who consume supermarket products, but to connoisseurs. It's pretty hard to make a typology of "the Romanian whiskey consumer", but there are some fundamental elements. Most have benefited from higher education or in-depth educational experiences into the bar culture, work in a multicultural environment and travel quite frequently to the West, earn above average and are open people, willing to learn and experiment. And in addition, they have strong characters. I don't know too many whiskey lovers who tweeze their eyebrows ;).
Which are the whiskeys preferred by Romanians?
There are no statistics per se except those regarding sales in the segment of standard products or HoReCa products, i.e. blended products of up to 70-100 RON and they refer to the big brands: J & B, Ballantine's, Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniel's, Teacher's, not necessarily in that order. Many Romanians cannot afford superior products, and those who can don't yet have the necessary education for this segment. In other words, we are only in a budding market, but one that is slowly beginning to discover something new.
If you had to make a top of the venues that are ideal for savoring a quality whiskey in Romania, which would be the first three?
I am probably subjective because I live in Transylvania, but in recent years, Cluj has dominated international competitions. So I just hope that in the coming years we will be able to maintain this evolution, but that more and more specialized venues will be opened as well ... We also hope that Cluj will maintain this upward trend and that increasingly more people will become interested in the whiskey culture. The snoblesse.ro blog will certainly only contribute to this.
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