Being forced to bin a beverage due to airline liquid restrictions can be a frustrating experience, but these passengers refused to allow the rules to get in the way of some wine that reportedly contained powdered tiger bone.

Faced with the decision to bin it or drink it, two travellers stood at a security checkpoint at an airport in China and polished off the ‘aphrodisiac wine’, which was stored in a small sculpture of a tiger.

Photos show the men, Wang Tan and Yang Wu, taking turns as they chugged the wine, drinking from the neck of the sculpture, before boarding a plane at Baiyun International Airport in the city of Guangzhou, north-west of Hong Kong.

The men were not allowed to take the wine past security due to liquid restrictions for hand luggage

A security officer stopped the man after spotting the tiger sculpture in a carry-on bag at a checkpoint

The men were stopped by security after an officer noticed the sculpture and asked one of the men, whose surname is Wang, to open his bag for examination, Shanghaiist and Tencent reported.

Wang pleaded with the security officer, telling her: ‘Little girl, it's good stuff inside. It's aphrodisiac wine that was bought from my buddy's hometown.

‘You know, it's very, very expensive. It cost us a good 8,000 yuan [£800 or $1,300]. Smell it, feel the aroma.’

The security officer was not swayed and told the men they would not be allowed to take the container in their hand luggage due to liquid restrictions.

It was too late to put the container in their checked luggage, so they decided to down it on the spot as quickly as possible.

As they chugged the wine a security manager warned them ‘drunken passengers’ would not be allowed to fly.

They were able to continue on their flight after they assured the officers they were capable of holding the drink, walking in a straight line to prove it.

Wang said: ‘We both can drink like a fish, but we're afraid of wasting the aphrodisiac.

‘We won't bring this kind of stuff any more. If we do, we will register it as checked baggage.’

One of the men told a security officer the wine cost £800 ($1,300) and was bought at 'a buddy's hometown'

The wine is reportedly made with crushed tiger bone despite the fact that China banned the trade of tiger parts in 1993.

Although the country does enforce punishment of poachers, the breeding of tigers in captivity is a grey area and there are now is an estimated population of 4,000 tigers in breeding farms all over the country.

The tigers are a money-spinner while they are alive as they are fed live animals in front of tourists. Although the trade in tiger parts is not allowed from farms or from the wild, it is believed that such trading takes place nonetheless.