Talisker is an excellent whisky, but you are right, it's expensive, as most single malts are. I also like Laphroig and Lagavulin... when I can afford them. Although, the Lagavulin is both peaty and smoky, which are tastes that are to be aquired... but it goes really good with hearty foods like steak, potatoes, roast chicken and other grilled delicacies... and cigars.

Bowmore used to have an 8 yr old, sherry casked finished for a reasonable price, but I haven't been able to find it for a while. I can't recall if it was single malt or blended, but I do remember that it was delicious. Perhaps it was a limited edition thing.

For a lower priced whiskey you have to go blended. You can't go wrong with Jamison (though I've heard Bushmills is good... the Bushmills/Protestant versus Jamison/Catholic is entirely a construct of the Irish diaspora in America...but that doesn't mean you won't insult somebody by ordering either one in a bar.) I've heard others say that Johnny Walker is consistently good, though they've divided their label into red, black and blue, with various affect upon the price. So, take that for what it is worth.

Personally, for an Irish blend, however, I always have a bottle of Tullamore DEW (DEW = Daniel E. Williams, the distillery founder) at home. It's sweeter than, say, Jack Daniels (which is from a corn mash and not barley based) but is not as sweet as Jamison and finishes nicely. I quite like it.

There are several recipes for 'hot whisky and lemon' extant, but I've found that Tullamore DEW seems tastiest with a variety of them: The basic recipe is like a hot toddy; whisky, hot water, lemon, honey; variations add some mix of capons, cinammon and nutmeg, but I like things simple and tend to stick to the basics.