The mysterious buyer of the world’s largest whisky bottle, standing at an impressive 5 feet 11 inches – surpassing the average human height – has been unveiled as Vietnamese entrepreneur Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan. With an existing spirits collection valued at over £150 million, Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan’s acquisition of the colossal 311-litre bottle filled with 32-year-old Macallan single malt for £1.1 million at an Edinburgh auction last year has now come to light.
Viet’s latest addition, the “Intrepid,” found its home in Ho Chi Minh City alongside an accompanying certificate from Guinness World Records, cementing its status as the globe’s largest whisky bottle. The final price for this acquisition equated to nearly £92 for a 25ml serving, often referred to as a “dram.”
Renowned for his substantial investments in rare spirits, Viet possesses a collection enriched with some of the world’s scarcest and most ancient cognac and whisky bottles. Elaborating on his passion, Viet stated, “I’ve been spending my spare time collecting these bottles for decades. The history and traditions of whisky-making give each one its rarity, and that’s the value I see in each bottle. I was enticed to acquire the Intrepid for three main reasons: the fact it’s the world’s biggest bottle, it contains Macallan, and because I was inspired by the record-breaking achievements of the 11 explorers depicted on the bottle’s label.”
The concept of the Intrepid, arranged and executed by Daniel Monk of Cask World and the drinks wholesaler Rosewin Holdings, was an homage to the achievements of 11 pioneering British explorers. The labels of the bottle feature images of these individuals, including renowned figures like Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dr. Geoff Wilson, Karen Darke, Olly Hicks, and Jamie Ramsay.
Daniel Monk further elucidated, “This is a passion project to celebrate the life of my late father, Capt Stanley Monk, who was himself an explorer and achieved many amazing things during his life.”
