Hi all!

I have a fairly uncommon history with scotches. I had never been a whisky drinker - other than occasionally - until I tried an Islay whisky (Big Peat) a few years ago. That got me into Islay and I feel I have a decent palate for it now, or at least I know what I like.

I'm trying to reverse-engineer my way into understanding whisky, so I'd like to purchase a bottle of something that is NOT Islay, and that would be considered a less challenging scotch. I still like some amount of complexity (I am from a wine-producing and wine-drinking region in northern Italy, so I am fairly used to complex flavour profiles), but would like to try something more introductory and easy on the palate.

I generally don't like too much sweetness, but other than that, I'm open to suggestions on a good whisky that is less challenging and more "average" than the usual Islay. Thanks!