Islay is the birthplace of the peatiest malts in the whole wide world.
As you may have picked up before, I'm not into subtlety - at least
as far as single malts are concerned... This means I tend to go for
an expressive Islay or Speyside malt instead of a Lowlander nine
out of ten times. And when it's expression you're looking for,
you can't go wrong with an Islay whisky. Smoke, peat, salt,
seaweed and sometimes even iodine or leather. But there's
more than meets the nose. Given enough time, most Islay
malts develop a distinctive sweetness. Be careful, though...

The power of these malts can be overwhelming for less experienced noses and palates.
Islay malts are very characteristic and immediately recognisable. Still, there are a lot of differences between these eight malts. If I would have to divide them into 'style' groups, it would be something like:

Please note that I've only tasted a few different versions of the last group, so these general classifications may be a bit premature. Except for the three 'power' distilleries, I have found no obvious connection between the style and character of a single malt and the location of the distillery. And that puts the whole 'Geography' thing into perspective.

Power Islays - Ardbeg / Lagavulin / Laphroaig
Subtler Islays - Bruichladdich / Caol Ila / Port Ellen
Sherry Islays - Bowmore / Bunnahabhain