Cyrus Noble

Nose: It has a light corn sweetness. It also has a toasted nuts scent and maybe a little bit of dried fruit. The nose is not strong nor overwhelming. Palate: This starts out pretty mellow with light rye spiciness and then warms up through the middle. This finish is about medium with continued warm as it goes down. The mouthfeel is a bit watery. On the second sip, the warm and spice seemed to gravitate to the roof of my mouth and the finish left some spice flavor in the back of my throat. There is a small amount of harshness, but it isn’t too bad and is, I think, just a reminder that it is 90 proof. I like it and it is a very serviceable bourbon, especially for the money. That said, it won’t knock your socks off. It will, I think, leave you saying, “that’s nice, I think I’ll have another”. The last sip, believe it or not, reminded me of a mlld peanut butter flavor. Comments: This is another one of those “names” that was around back in the Cowboy days (1871, according to the label and additional research). The Haas Brothers have owned the trademark for it since 1922 and re-introduced it. I’m not sure exactly when, but they were producing decanters in the 1970’s just like Beam and Wild Turkey. (I’d love to find an old full decanter some day to do a side-by-side tasting.) The story goes, Cyrus Noble was a favorite brand in San Francisco. It is reportedly sourced from Heaven Hill and is 5 years old. I can see how this might be Heaven Hill and, perhaps one of their mash bills that has a decent amount of rye in it. This is a nice sipper and would be a good “in-front-of-the-fireplace-in-winter” kind of bourbons….well, if one had a fireplace. I have a pellet stove and it would still do nicely. The price on this is pretty friendly (low $30’s or maybe even less, I believe) so it doesn’t break the bank if you want try something different in that price range. It is a stalwart, middle of the road, bourbon. This clocks in at 90 proof.