Jealous of you guys that got to tour the distilleries in Scotland. Some friends and I were going to do a mountain bike tour of distilleries, using one of our crew's grandparents' house as our base but unfortunately we had to cancel the first year due conflicting schedules on our side, but the next year the grandparents passed and we scrapped the plans altogether (and schedules on our side got worse anyways).
Islay would be where I'd head first if I do get over there. Lagavulin is my favorite, but love Laphroaig, Bowmore, etc. Love smoky peaty scotches. That special Oban sounds awesome, too. Ever get a chance to
pick up this book, it's a nice basic guide to Whisk(e)y
I spoke with a master blender for Johnnie Walker at a scotch event about the water/ice thing and he said basically whatever floats your boat...he did both a bit of water or on the rocks as to what pleased him at the moment....