Talisker 18 Year Old might be the perfect peated dram.

Talisker distillery was founded in 1830 by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskil at Carbost on the the Isle of Skye. In all these years Talisker's distillation method has remained unchanged. In fact, when the entire distillery burnt to the ground in 1960 they rebuilt everything back to the original specs. Talisker is owed by Diageo but is operated by United Distillers and Vintners and those guys do a good job keeping the mealy corporate hands off of the malt. Today, Talisker is the only distillery on the Isle of Skye—the coolest island name on the planet—creating a full range of island-style, medium-peated, single malt agings and finished-wood Whiskies.

If you could only have one bottle of Talisker, this is it. Don’t get us wrong — Talisker is one of the great distilleries in Scotland and all of their work is top-shelf. But Talisker 18 Year Old enjoys universal acclaim from the entire Whisky-loving world. In fact, when this version was added to their core lineup in 2007, it was hailed as “Best Single Malt Whisky in the World.” It has the perfect balance of flavors mellowed by time — fruit and smoke, savory and sweet, smoothness and spice.