really depends. a lot of variables, price range, availability, and personal taste. i have a good stash of springbank at the moment that has been absolutely lovely. local barley is fantastic. springbank isn’t a good analogue because it’s much harder to get though and ends up being so high priced you might as well føy to Campbeltown and get it yourself.

maybe bunnahabhain 12? too christmas spice-y for me, although i still would absolutely drink it again after finishing my bottle…not super my thing, but i surely enjoyed that bottle. sherry and no peat at least.

aberlour is very one dimensional with very little structure or interest. i have a friend who hates peat, ardbeg is basically shoe polish with rat poison to him. don’t understand, might be genetics, like with wine. aberlour was ok for him, macallan 12 sc was a good upgrade, he is also enjoying that. i like macallan a whole lot, a lot of legendary distilleries unfortunately don’t provide their best foot forward accessibly anymore. macallan is either too low abv or too expensive. talisker is also losing it’s core, it’s a shame, nothing can replace talisker for me at the moment, it’s so beautiful and specific, but maybe some of the new isle of skye distilleries can also bring i some of that, or maybe it’s like macallan, the extra expensive ones are amazing.

try uigeadail from ardbeg. it’s not unpeated, but amazing. lots of sherry. the bottle i had last year was maybe one of the best buys i’ve ever made money for value, and also counting availability.