Skip advertisement Advertisement

Golden Retriever

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (151)
Measurements in:
Serves:
1
Ingredients
1 fl oz Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
1/3 fl oz Green Chartreuse (or alternative herbal liqueur)
1/2 fl oz Licor 43 Original liqueur
1/3 fl oz Chilled water/mineral water (omit if using wet ice)

How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Prepare

  1. Select and pre-chill a NICK & NORA GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

Method

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 5/10

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Golden Retriever contains 136 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 26.83% alc./vol. (53.66° proof)
  • 17.5 grams of pure alcohol
Skip advertisement Advertisement

History

Adapted from a recipe created by Dick Bradsell at Alfred's, London, England. Dick's original recipe was equal parts without the water and was served straight-up in a Martini glass.

Review

This powerful, straw yellow cocktail offers a myriad of flavours. Benefitting from the dilution of a long stir and/or the addition of a dash of water.

Cocktail of the day:

14th January 2026 is Dress Up Your Pet Day

Skip advertisement Advertisement

Gallery

Skip advertisement Advertisement

Comments & Discussion

Loz Horner
It is paler than the picture. And yes it is sweet. But it’s good. Vegetal meets vanilla. Agree that the rum disappears so will try the dialled down versions people suggest next time.
score: 2
Markus Gunnar Premium Member
Color in the picture was not what I got. Very light yellow/green hue. I dialed down the Licor 43 and upped the rum and Chartreuse. Stilll vanilla-forward.

It needs the extra dilution. It's a dessert style cocktail.
score: 5
Albert Markiewicz
Ehm if you dialed down a golden liqueur and upped a green liqueur, isn't it obvious that the colour will bedifferent?
score: 0
Bill and Audrey Kopp
Very nice drink. We used Faccia Brutto in place of the green chartreuse, and were satisfied with the results. Tasty and complex. It's nice to find a rum cocktail that does not call for sugar syrup.
score: 1
Caspian Berggren Premium Member
This is one of those cocktails that can benefit from being served on the rocks. It really has a fascinating evolution in the glass. The Licor 43 and Chartreuse take turns dominating the cocktail but as it gets more diluted they find their places - Chartreuse dominates in the front and mid of the palate whereas the 43 dominates on the nose and in the finish. The rum is disappointing though, it's completely run over by the liqueurs. Use something more assertive than Havana 3...
score: 4
Simon Sedgley Premium Member
We agree with other commenters here that a couple of dashes of bitters elevates this cocktail. We went with grapefruit bitters. This one really does need to be paired with a Roquefort cheese to allow its voice to be part of a heavenly chorus.
score: 1
Ian Lessels Premium Member
Can you tell me how you "express" orange zest? I really don't know what that means.
score: 1
Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member
Please click "EXPRESS" in the 'How to make' for an explanation.
score: 5
Peter M Premium Member
As others mentioned, you'll really need to make sure you get the dilution right for your own taste, but the result is a smooth, tasty mildly vanilla herbal rum drink. Yum.
score: 1
Jake Reichert
As with others, my first impression was that the strength, wild, delicious, lacked an acid to provide balance. I added a few squeezes of lime juice, which improved it, but next time I think I might use something more potent like grapefruit bitters. I also felt like the chartreuse overpowered the flavor of the Licor 43. They are two of my favorite Lecure’s, but next time I think I might increase the Licor 43 to 3/4 oz and decrease the chartreuse to 1/4 oz.
score: 3
Steven Jepson Premium Member
First taste was a bit sweet - so gave it a bit longer on the stir and added two dashes of Scrappys Lime Bitters.
Just gave it that edge back and very nice too.
score: 2
Matt B
I made this by mistake with 1/3rd oz of Licor 43 and even then it seemed to be a bit too prominent for my taste.
score: 1

Showing the first 10 of 15 comments.