Vernon Again

While in Derbyshire, I was also introduced to a most delicious liqueur that I'd never come across before - Noyau de Vernon. It's made from the kernels not of apricots (as amaretto and various others are) but of cherries - and it certainly tastes of cherries. In fact it's rather like a cross between kirsch and amaretto, but without the sharpness of kirsch or the sweetness of amaretto - and it's got a good 40% kick. If you spot a bottle, buy it - as I would have done, had I but known, last October, for Vernon was the very town in which my brother and I found ourselves locked out of the hotel. Small world.