Color: Deep and clear green-yellow balance. A very even color so it is hard to decide which color comes out more. Very clear and captivating to look at.

Louche: Lots of oil swirls that louche easily with a nice pattern. The end is a strong and thick louche that tints just a bit of a blue hint on the edges.

Aroma: Complex and well balanced. Nothing seems to overpower anything else. Wormwood easily detectable but this is not smelling like an A.a. bomb. Clean, sweet, and promising.

Flavor: Slightly spicy with very unique wormwood and anise flavors out in front. Smooth and thick with peaks of spice as more of a texture than a flavor. Simple right up front but wonderfully complex in the back. Diverse and paradoxical at points. Overall the wormwood does dominate a bit.

Finish: The finish changes quickly and often, resulting in a complex experience. It lasts a long time with spicy and wormwood finish at the end. Numbs the mouth very well.

Overall: So close to a full five stars. This is a wonderful absinthe and holds some of the best presentation out there. Strong louche and excellent flavor are highlights. Montana grown wormwood showcases itself nicely and separates it's flavor from the rest very easily. Only critique would be to balance the flavor a bit to let the other herbs show through.

Color: A really great, clear olive.

Louche: Very oily and wavy when water is dripped, but I wish the louche built much slower...it's over much too fast. The louched absinthe is a nice thickness, mostly pale green with a very slight golden glow.

Aroma: Easily distinguishable sweet anise, a hint of fennel, and clean, bold wormwood. This is my most favorite wormwood from any region in the world.

Flavor: The taste, especially of the wormwood is wonderful and not at all out of balance. It's cool and crisp (I think due to the coriander.) The flavor is so simple, without any unnecessary elements, and so complete and rounded that I can't discern any way it could be improved.

Finish: Sweet and spicy anise tingle with a slight melissa flavor, in addition to the ever-present wormwood. This lingers for a long time.

Overall: Typically I go for absinthes that do something a little different, and branch out into creative variations built upon a solid absinthe foundation. Ridge is perfect in its simplicity and does need any additional bells and whistles to stand out. This is easily one of my favorite absinthes on the market today.

*Edited after receiving a very recent batch from 2012. The first review was an early bottling.

I enjoy it best at 4:1 with no sugar, after experimenting with 3:1, 4:1 and 5:1, with and without sugar.

Color: A lovely clear and natural light peridot. Beautiful.

Louche: A nicely paced, even build with swirling trails and light play. The final louche is perfectly opalescent, and a pretty light green with touches of yellows, gold, copper, and impressions of blue at the top edge. This later bottling has a slightly thicker louche than my first early bottle, which I like.

Aroma: A Montana alpine meadow. Fresh and clean. The room filled with flowers and herbs as water was added. The recent bottle's aroma has evolved, and is fuller and rounder.

Flavor: This is delicious. There is soft, but pronounced wormwood backed by a high quality anise and fennel, wrapped in flowers and herbs. The maker clearly feels strongly about the herbal elements, as they are so carefully selected, right up front, and balanced. It is crisp, lightly dry, spicy, but nothing overwhelms. The flavor in this new bottle is as I expected, a clear evolution from the promising early batches I sampled.

Finish: A wonderful finish; a light tingle and steady build of elements, with a smooth moothfeel. A solid linger with layers of pepper, citrus and florals.

Overall, after sampling this new bottle, I'd have to say this is one of the best American absinthes being made. Great job guys!

The color of Ridge Verte is a beautiful all natural green, what I expect a verte to look like, chlorophyll.

The louche is also perfect. It's quick, but not too fast, a beautiful and appetizing light green. Describing it as thick doesn't seem appropriate so I'll use the word 'solid'. Thick would be too much and I think if ther was any more louche it would be too much.

The aroma is spicy, with a little bit of citrus which becomes more apparent with a slow drip. I immediately think of melissa but there is some anise in there as well and while both scents are noticeable, neither are overpowering of unpleasant. Very appetizing!

The flavor is a symphony of herbs, led by some anise up front, but not too much, supported by good wormwood composing most of the body with apparent (but not distracting!) melissa on the finish. Like Ridge Blanche I feel there are other herbs and flavors in this absinthe that I'm missing or not identifying correctly and I like that very much.

The mouthfeel is perfect, not too thick and oily and not thin, but there and satisfying.

The finish is perfect. It's there but I don't feel like I've been chewing on any herbs.

Overall- This is one of my all time favorite vertes. I'd drink it everyday if I could, and next time I have someone who is new to absinthe over I'll start them off with Ridge Verte. It's so refreshing, coupled with the level of craftsmanship and quality it's quite clear to me that this is a marvelous beverage. And I like it quite a bit.