well for me, it might be remy vsop, b/c i dont have anything else. i need some xtra cash so i can purchase some of these scotch's you guys are enjoying. cheers

There has to be a secret fund somewhere for those who want to try outrageously expensive things but just don't have the money to....Stafford Federal College Loans? Sorry, being a college student kinda drains the scotch funds pretty quickly

I have never tasted iodine in Glenlivit 12 yr old. I admit that I haven't consumed many bottles of it though. I have some 18 year old that doesn't even have a hint. I have Balvine Double Wood on hand as my "go to" single malt.

I don't like "smokey, peaty" scotch. Maybe just a hint as in Oban 14 but not much more. Kinda nauseous to me.

well much to my dismay, my local liquer store has quite the selection of single malts. taking what was suggested here i went to the store saturday. there was belvenie doublewood, bowmore, lagavulin, and laphroig and others. to my shock, lagavulin is 74$ a bottle?? though i would love to try it, its doubtful. sunday i tried the belvenie dw. it was fantastic. had sweet tones in both the nose and taste, fruity, oaky, smooth with a little bite. warm long finish. definitely a good scotch in my book.

I think the Balvenie Doublewood is an excellent single malt and the o.p. should try it. The Portwood is also quite good.
As for the Islay malts, I like Bowmore and Lagavulin, but find Laphroig too peaty (iodine taste) and Ardbeg even more so. But, to each his own. If you want the most peat, I think it's Ardbeg.
Along those lines, Talisker (Skye) is smoky, but not as peaty; there's a subtle difference.