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.

Ridge Verte pours an attractive shade of olive-peridot, with a fresh aroma before water that is both herbal and medicinal. There are noticeable white pepper notes in the scent. When water is added, an attractive louche forms, with all of the expected visual effects.

After water, the aroma is stellar: fresh and tonic-like, which characteristics carry over into the excellent flavor. This absinthe is challenging...it reminds me somewhat of the Roquette 1797. The two share the medicinal DNA of the earliest absinthes. The finish is perhaps a little too peppery, though with age this may improve. If so, I'll up the overall score from 4 to 5.

Overall, I like it very much. Well done, T73 and company.

I could bask in these aromas all night - floral, powerful, and smooth. Neat color is pretty close to perfect - not too dark... but dark enough to stand out. Louche is glorious and thick - forms a bit quickly with lengthy, oily tentrils which form into heavy cloudbanks. This tastes very similar to how it smells - outstanding. Mouthfeel and finish both present themselves well and are enjoyable. Lots of great flavour and the preparation is difficult to get wrong. Out-standing!

Slightly "medicinal".... rustic... herbal... this is a great American absinthe and one which I expect will always be in my cabinet.

EDIT: There is a bit of menthol in the flavour and aroma which might be strange to some... so I have balanced my scores a bit based upon that. This is most likely from the elecampane used.