Maraschino from Gabriel Boudier, the Dijon liqueur house founded in 1874, is built around marasca cherries and leans on the flesh of the fruit rather than the stone alone, which sets it apart from the drier, more austere examples of the category.
The nose opens on almond and chocolate, with waxy cherry skin and roasted nut underneath, closer to Black Forest gâteau than to anything confected. The palate is rich with distilled cherry fruit, threaded with nutty fruit stone and a faint dark chocolate note, and the perfumed cherry and sugared almond character lingers well after the sip.
An essential bottle behind the bar for an Aviation, a Last Word or a Hemingway daiquiri, and pleasant enough on its own over ice.