The world’s largest bottle of whiskey went to the Vietnamese collector

Giant canister of single malt sells for more than a million pounds

A Vietnamese collector turned out to be the buyer of the world’s largest bottle of whiskey. Viet Nguyen Dinh Thuan bought a 311-liter bottle of Macallan 32-year-old single malt whiskey at auction for £1.1 million.

The previously unknown buyer of the world’s largest bottle of whiskey, which at 5ft 11in tall is taller than the average person, turned out to be a Vietnamese businessman who already owns a liquor collection worth more than £150m.

As writes The GuardianViet Nguyen Dinh Thuan bought a 311-litre bottle filled with 32-year-old Macallan single malt whiskey for £1.1m at an auction in Edinburgh last year.

On Thursday, Viet added a bottle of whiskey called Intrepid (“Fearless”) to its collection in Ho Chi Minh City, along with a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records confirming that it is the largest in the world. The final purchase price was almost £92 per 25 ml.

A longtime investor in rare spirits, Viet owns many of the world’s rarest and oldest cognac and whiskey bottles.

He said: “For decades I spent my free time collecting these bottles. The history and traditions of whiskey production give each of them its own rarity, and it is this value that I see in every bottle. I bought Intrepid for three main reasons: the fact that it’s the largest bottle in the world, it contains Macallan, and because I was inspired by the record-breaking achievements of the 11 researchers featured on the bottle’s label.”

Daniel Monk of Cask World and beverage wholesaler Rosewin Holdings conceptualized and organized the auction. He said the drink was named “Fearless” in honor of the achievements of the 11 British pioneers featured on the bottle’s label, which include famed explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dr. Jeff Wilson, Paralympian Karen Darke, explorer Ollie Hicks and distance runner Jamie Ramsay.

Daniel Monk added: “This is a passionate project dedicated to the life of my late father, Captain Stanley Monk, who was an explorer himself and accomplished many amazing things in his lifetime.”

The bottle is the latest addition to the Viet collection, which already includes the world’s only complete collections of Macallan whiskeys, including the 1926 Fine and Rare. A total of 40 bottles of 1926 Macallan were produced, and Viet owns three of them. In 2019, a bottle was sold for almost £1.5 million, writes The Guardian.

The collector also owns the world’s largest bottle of cognac and the oldest bottle of whiskey – believed to be nearly 150 years old.

Monk said: “Exploring Mr. Viet’s whiskey collection was an unforgettable experience, truly a paradise for whiskey and cognac lovers.”