I was going to start my little travelogue alphabetically and show pictures of the Ardbeg distillery. But the only way to start a whisky tour of Islay is with the letter "P." It's all about the peat, my friends!
They farm this stuff. I know, it looks like great loads of poo, a veritable steaming mound. But it's where heaven begins. The unofficial whisky glossary has this to say about peaty whisky:
"Compressed, decayed vegetable matter is cut from peat bogs and used as fuel. The pungent smoke it gives off when burnt is used in the malting of barley intended for certain Scottish malt whiskies, especially on Islay."
You can almost smell it, can't you? MMMMM!