They're delicious, and certainly have the most brand recognition, but are honestly one of many high quality options. To add to some of the ones listed on this thread:
- My personal favorite is the Amarena Fabbri wild cherries, they have a tangier kick to them and are absolutely delicious.

- There's recipes out there for making your own brandied cherries. Here's a link to a couple recipes from The Bar Book . I tried the easy one, which is basically to take the amarena cherries, drain the syrup, and add some liquor and liqueur to infuse for a bit. Delicious results. The more complicated one is more cost effective for the volume of output, but also... well... the complicated one :D