Help identify a scotch (absolute beginner)

[mortis]

Several years ago I spent an evening drinking some different scotches with a friend. Most of them I found too sweet and "banana-ey" (I believe this is peat?) but I absolutely latched onto one in particular that I loved. At the time I was identifying the taste with roasted pumpkin seeds, it went down very dry.

Obviously I'm very confused reading tasting descriptions of some single malts, and when I relate the roasted flavor idea people look at me like I'm crazy and say "you mean, smoke?" but I can't really say that's the same thing.

Having got back in touch with my friend he seems to recall he had out Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Balvenie, Glenmorangie, Edradour, and Talisker. He thought it might have been Lagavulin, but I've kind of narrowed it down to maybe Edradour or Balvenie in my googlings.

Alternatively if anyone can maybe just recommend a good non-peaty scotch (or clear up my misconceptions regarding peat if that's the case). Well, thanks so much for looking.

[Willie JJ]

Hi mortis, welcome to the forums. I think trying to establish which malt you had on the basis of what you say is pretty much impossible. I would say that sweetness and banana notes I might have associated with Balvenie rather than Edradour, but roasted pumpkin seeds isn't something that really makes me think of either. You do seem to have some misconceptions about peat. Can I suggest that you look at the flavour wheel here:

http://www.whiskymag.com/media/nosing_course/Whiskywheel-Big.jpg

It may help you to understand better what is meant by some of the taste references.

[dramtastic]

My thoughts exactly beatterma