Scotch: Aye, it's good for wha' ails ye

For the past couple of months, I've been trying to break into the world of Scotch. Keep in mind that previous to this couple of months, the only whiskey I'd ever had was accompanied by at least two parts of ginger ale.

Getting into Scotch isn't as easy as getting into wine, mainly because a bottle of the former is several times more expensive than one of the latter. Scotch also has at least as many idiosyncratic adjectives as wine, trading 'plum' and 'cherry' for 'woody' and 'peaty'. It's an odd experience to learn these terms. It's kind of like when you were in pre-school (or earlier) when you were first learning colours -- You can't really understand what exactly 'red' is until somebody shows you a stop sign, so the only way to be able to talk to another Scotch drinker about what you're tasting and experiencing is to try a whole bunch of different Scotches. That in itself can be a bit exciting and more than a bit frustrating.

So far, I've tried GlenFiddich, Oban, Dalwhinnie, and Lagavulin, and I've discovered that I'm partial to the ones that are described as 'peaty', particularly Lagavulin and Oban. Anybody else a Scotch drinker? What are your favourites?