Well, I've found the best drop to introduce novice whisky drinkers to the delights of a peated dram. It's The Ardmore Legacy Highland single malt.
Distilled at the Ardmore Distillery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, it is a light breezy whisky and came in at a rather nice price of just under $60 (Australian) at my local Dan Murphy's bottle shop.
The Legacy is described on the bottle as "lightly peated" and this is the reason it is such a good introduction to the more challenging Scottish whiskies. The peatiness comes through quite subtly and doesn't smash you over the head like some of the amazing Islay whiskies.
This light golden coloured whisky is very drinkable (probably dangerously so) with its slightly sweet honey flavour countered by the smokiness of the peat.
For those who care (and really does it matter), the Legacy is made with 80% peated malt and 20% unpeated malt.
As a minor aside, I love the label on the bottle, with an illustration of a golden eagle flying high over a map of the Kennethmont district with the distillery clearly marked.
On a more important note, the Ardmore Legacy helped me through a particularly troublesome NRL match on TV. With my favourite Rabbitohs losing by a rather large margin, my half-time dram of Ardmore Legacy seemed to pull the boys around and we finished up 40-30 winners. Or maybe they aren't related at all. All I can say to that is - "Prove it".