Is there a smoky Islay nearly everyone gets along with?

And it tastes the part. Light in colour it may be, yet there is nothing timid here. The nose goes straight to the shore, all mineral and salt, but with a sweetness underneath that keeps it fresh and lively rather than austere. The palate carries menthol and a touch of bay laurel, more of that brininess, a hint of malt, and a flicker of Parma violet, everything kept breezy, as though the peat smoke were being blown off a kiln and straight into salt-laden air. The reviewer who tasted it preferred it to the 12 year old, and said so plainly.

This week Lagavulin 8 is $99 for members at Dan Murphy's. That works out to about $3.73 a standard drink across roughly 27 pours in the bottle, which puts a dram of it comfortably under the $6.28 a standard drink you'd pay for a pint at the pub. It is a pour you can take your time over at home for less than the round costs out.

Now for the part that tells you what it's worth. Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest to Lagavulin 8 what they'd pay for it, each starting from what they already hand over for their own, and the figures run from $90 at the low end to $142 at the high end. At $99 for members, this week's price sits inside that range, which is to say it lands within what the people closest to it would happily pay. Every one of those nearest drinkers who shares its flavours rates it at nine-tenths or more of their own bottle, so the agreement is not a close-run thing.

If you want a change, three bottles stand in for it well.

Port Charlotte 10, which usually sells around $146, is heavily peated without ever overpowering you, falling somewhere between a meaty smoke and a sweeter butterscotch, with a subtle sherry influence and an iodine note that stays in its place. It drinks darker and less sweet than you'd expect, and the medicinal edge carries right through the finish. To a Lagavulin 8 drinker it gives about 98% of what the Lagavulin does, for 147% of the price.

Talisker 10, $92 for members this week, is the gentler smoke of the group, never as all-pervading as Lagavulin's, and the thing to look for is the sweetness that balances it: a sweet, pear-like quality underneath, with notes of heather and moor, a little sweet seaweed, and that distinctive crack of black pepper on the finish. To a Lagavulin 8 drinker it gives about 95% of what the Lagavulin does, for 93% of its price.

Ardbeg Wee Beastie, which usually sells around $106, is the most intense of the trio on the nose: wood smoke and phenolic vapours, black pepper, a sea breeze and sour lemon, then the cask doing its quieter work with milk chocolate raisins, a touch of bacon fat and orchard fruit. It drinks peaty, punchy and oily, and finishes long and smoky. To a Lagavulin 8 drinker it gives about 94% of what the Lagavulin does, for 107% of its price.

So, who is it for? If Lagavulin 8 is already your bottle, $99 for members is the short version of the story, and there is little reason to wander. If you lean to the big medicinal Islay style, Port Charlotte 10 will scratch exactly that itch. If you'd rather a smoke that leaves more room for sweetness, Talisker 10 is the one to reach for, and at $92 for members it is the easiest swap to make this week. And if you want the loudest, most unapologetic peat of the lot, Wee Beastie is waiting. Whatever kind of drinker you are, one of these says yes.