Brooding over the relative lack of mentions of  Tomintoul on Terry Wogan’s morning radio show, a local restauranter felt that something had to be done to restore a modicum of “fame” for his tiny village. And so the idea was born.

It became the brainchild of Dru McPherson and Whisky Castle shop owner, Mike Drury and led to a collaboration with Tomintoul Distillery to produce the world’s largest whisky bottle.

The two villagers commissioned the project and the gigantic bottle was specially manufactured in Germany and transported to Scotland. It was filled by hand at Tomintoul Distillery on August 27th 2009 with 105.3 litres of Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch whisky, aged 14 years, donated by the distillery.  It took 150 bottles to fill the giant bottle which weighed 164 kg when full and stands some 144cm tall (just a tad under 5ft).

Clockhouse Restaurant owner McPherson commented, 'It’s a dream come true. After all the planning and effort to get the bottle commissioned, filled and confirmed by Guinness as a world record I am very proud that the bottle is now safely displayed inside the restaurant. I hope it will stimulate visitor interest to the lovely village of Tomintoul.'

Duncan Baldwin, Brand Development Director at Tomintoul Distillery added, 'It was quite nerve-racking, filling and labelling such a large vessel by hand and especially so when sealing the bottle with the largest cork I have ever seen, as it had to be hammered in with a mallet, but the exercise went very well. It should be a great talking point for Tomintoul village and its visitors!'