Islay Mist 8 Year Old

I recently tried this as well due to the reduced price and was surprised. Normally I avoid sub-$30 whiskeys because in my experience they're awful dreck, but too me Islay Mist is a good value pour. The grain sweetness and peat work well together.

Any plans to purchase the 17yo?

I wrote a review for this a while back as well. I'm curious to how this compares to Laphroaig? Especially in the fact I found this blend to be highly "earthy" and "medicinal" tasting myself. Haven't ever tasted anything like Laphroaig/Ardbeg aor any of those big peat monsters, though I'm curious to know how much of a change there really is from going from this blend to a Islay single malt? After all, Islay Mist 8 is 50% Laphroaig anyways the rest being some highland malts.

I highly doubt that Islay Mist is 50% Laphroaig. Probably it is at least 50% grain whisky, if not more. I've heard that Islay Mist has a higher percentage of malt whisky than the average blend but I don't know the specifics.

Laphroaig is much smokier, to my recollection. I've never done a head-to-head but I imagine you'd find Laphroaig to be much more flavourful, complex, full-bodied, and satisfying.

I'd like to try Islay Mist 17 but my budget probably won't allow it.

I had a dram of this yesterday at a friend's place (I gave him the bottle as a Christmas gift since a) he is new to Scotch, b) has shown a preference for peated whisky, and c) is enjoying his bottle of Black Grouse), and it wasn't bad. You can certainly taste the Laphroaig influence, but I agree, it isnt' 50% Laphroaig, and there is certainly a lot of grain whisky smoothing it out and sweetening it. I'd call it Quarter-Cask Extremely Light, and it is easily at 75 - 80 score-wise for me. I have a bottle of the 17 year-old version in stock (it was $78.95 at the LCBO), but I have a couple other peated whiskies slated for rotation before I get to it.

I do not understand why anyone (specifically YakLord above) would spend $79 for a peated blend when for roughly the same amount of money one could buy a Lagavulin 16 or any number of excellent peated Islay single malts.

@ Newkophile - Laga 16 over here is $117 (CAD) unfortunately. No where near the much pleasing price of $79 (USD) and it keeps going up yearly. After trying Laga this year I must say I cannot justify spending of that much money ever again. It was a poor surprise especially after some much more rewarding whiskies from Springbank which go miles above the Laga 16. Come to think of it for $79 (give or take a few bucks) you're better off spending that on Sprinkbank 10!

Thanks for the defence there, @cheeserandyburg...and as he's pointed out, @newkophile, pricing in Ontario is significantly different from what it is in the US...Lagavulin 16 is closing on $120 a bottle, while Laphroaig 18 is about $180...so yes, I'd willingly spend $79 for a 17 year old blended whisky that is around 35% to 45% Laphroaig, plus some well aged grain whisky, than the $180 for the Laphroaig 18...and that $79 is still $10 less than the Ballantines 17, so value is in the eye of the beholder, and plus whisky is about exploration and experimentation, so why not try something different?

I guess I got it good (?!!)here in south Florida where I have noticed that prices for good single malts are a whole lot less than what I see abroad, e.g., France where I spent some vacation time this past year. Not only that, I find that many single malts have higher ABV in the U.S. than their exactly named counterparts in Europe. BTW, Costco here had recently been selling the Laga 16 for $76 so that's the source of my previous comment.