Photo Credit Charlotte Graham/Guzelian

YEAR-LONG CHARITY WHISKY TASTING MARATHON REACHES HALFWAY MARK ON JULY 25th 2016. 

183 of 366 unique whiskies will have been reviewed and filmed on a daily basis as part of a challenge to raise £5000 for a UK children’s charity. 

Ben Bowers, of Hemingbrough, North Yorkshire, is attempting to film a review and history of 366 different whiskies from 366 unique distilleries over the course of 366 days. 

Having commenced on January 25th 2016 (otherwise known as “Burns’ Night”) Ben aims to review ‘A Dram A Day’ until January 24th 2017, uploading a video of every review on a daily basis to a YouTube channel. Each video also provides background history and anecdotes on each whisky, providing an informative guide to new drinkers. 

On Monday July 25th, Ben will upload the review for Dram 183, the halfway mark of this mammoth challenge. 

He aims to raise £5000 for The Childrens Heart Surgery Fund, a UK based charity helping babies and children requiring complex surgeries due to congenital heart defects, along with providing support for their families. This funding goal was inspired by the issues the best friend of his 6 year old daughter has had to endure after being born with a hole in his heart, and who will require a complete valve replacement when he is strong enough. 

Donations of each 25ml sample (the equivalent of 1 unit of alcohol) have been generously supplied by whisky fans around the world, along with suppliers and distributors. At the time of writing Ben is only 30 samples short of the full 366 enabling him to complete the challenge. 

Ben has had to continue the reviewing Drams during a family holiday to Florida and will also need to juggle the birth of a third child in October with the final stages of his mission. 

Ben also hopes to seal a publishing deal for a personal diary of the challenge to raise even more funds for the charity upon completion.