Talisker - the sherry cask if you're feeling flush. It's interesting enough to be a conversation piece (the only distillery on Skye) with a bit of smoke (not a fireball like Laphroaig). If the recipient is a fairweather whisky drinker then try an Isle of Jura. Any of the variants are tasty but not hard going. Also consider the Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15 yo.

Laphroaig Quarter Cask should be under $50 and is about the best deal you can get with scotch.

A friend and I bought this about 6-7 years ago for CAD$100. It has red, black, gold and blue; we wanted it to learn the difference between the labels. We've still got half the bottle of the blue left, and both prefer it over the gold. I've since seen the 200mL bottle for sale in YYZ transborder duty-free for CAD$80 alone, so if you can get all four for $100 now that's pretty good.

Macallan 12 is the correct answer. As single malts go, it has a fairly balanced flavor (not too dry, not too smoky or peaty). The cost is around 50 bucks, a gift amount that's not too cheap nor too expensive.

Also, I am assuming that OP wanted Johnnie Walker b/c it was a recognized status symbol (really the only reason to spend the same amount on JW as on a nice single malt), and Macallan is prob the most famous and known single malt, so it would have the same status symbol effect (as opposed to a smaller distillery that a non-Scotch drinker may not have heard of).

But, when they eventually open it and drink it, they'll be happier it's Macallan and not JW!

It is always appreciated as a good gift when traveling.

I'm in Brasil currently, brought a bottle (JW Red) along duty-free, and it was well received. As mentioned above, it is probably more for show in a well-stocked bar here than anything else.

Personally, I do not drink it.

Not sure comparing blended Scotch with single malts is a valid one. Main issue is knowing your intended giftee well enough to determine their tolerance for peat in their whisky. JW DoubleBlack is ideal if they do, otherwise I agree with others that Blue is overrated and that Green or Gold (or the new Platinum) are smoother drinking and make a more welcome gift to a whisky drinker than the run of the mill Red (yechh) or Black.

If label fixation is a factor and you want to go single malt, then Macallan has both class, taste, brand recognition and status. Much better regarded than Glenfiddich or The Glenlivit. While the others mentioned are fine single malts, giving them to someone who doesn't know much about whisky may not be as appreciated.

To Peat, or not to peat.

I had something offered to me during one of the many " First footing " celebrations 2009 in Aberdeen. " A touch of the peat " was an understatement for Campbells, of Campbelltown: It wasn't quite dirt, but it went down like whiskey mixed with someone's activated water charcoal filter, broken apart.

One to five glasses of water to wash out, I thought, took care of most of the taste.

On to the next first footing, and everything ended.

I awoke the next morning not knowing where I was. White painted stone walled room, small window, clean, heated, small warm bed. Goal, jail, in custody ?

I tried the door, which opened unlocked and I went out quietly. No one. More stone walls, and after wandering around rooms and hallways, I started following a coffee aroma. Opening the door I found a small kitchen, with a couple I did not recognize looking up at me from the table. " Oh good morning: Coffee and a wee bit of breakfast ? "

I had passed out in one of the many couples houses we visited the night before, this one being a small castle with some of the original stone walls. The second or third coffee told me I still had some of the awful Campbells taste in my mouth. Back to Aberdeen that afternoon with my Physician associate, a local, who decided it was best to leave me there. Never again will I do this, especially on jet lag.

The days of " When in Rome, do as the Romans do " are finished when it comes to Whiskey: Scotch, Irish, blended, or single malt grain. I'll stick with The Glenlivet, and only on special occasions.