Shipping homebrew through mail server.

How have people sent their bottled homebrew to out of state friends and family? I have a few batches of harvest ale I'd like to get to get a few bottles of to my family in New Mexico from Portland. UPS, USPS, FedEX, DSL, DIY? Just 12 oz bottles to ship.

USPS is illegal. The others will ship it as long as you don't tell them it's beer, just call it kitchen supplies or yeast samples IF anyone even asks, and it's likely that they won't. When I ship beers to comps, I just bring it to the UPS store, they put it on the scale, slap on a tag, and take my money, no questions asked.

Technically they are all illegal. However fedex or ups is the way to go. Better off bottling in plastic soda bottles if you want to ship. If you have to go with glass wrap each bottle in bubble wrap and put it in a ziplock. Then fill a heavy trash bag with padding and put the ziplocks in there then put the bag in the box with some more padding.

The idea is to keep it from leaking even if they do break so no one will notice. Really the soda bottles are the best way to get it there just doesn't look as fancy.

Most competitions won't take soda bottles, not to mention they arent ideal for long term storage. Beer is shipped all the time via UPS/FedEx.

No Worries. Just pack it well inside a good quality bag to prevent leaks should they break.



You can use the cheap toilet paper for padding. The bottles don't need the charmin, single ply is fine. Works perfect.

You can go to a UPS Store and get some UPS Express Pad packs. They are large bubble wrap envelopes and they are free.

Cut the sticky sealer off and put your bottle in and roll the envelope closed on itself and tape shut with masking tape. You can then reuse them. They work great and I use them for shipping beer as well as traveling with it in checked baggage.

EdWort said:

You can go to a UPS Store and get some UPS Express Pad packs. They are large bubble wrap envelopes and they are free.

Cut the sticky sealer off and put your bottle in and roll the envelope closed on itself and tape shut with masking tape. You can then reuse them. They work great and I use them for shipping beer as well as traveling with it in checked baggage.

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This man is a genius.

I shipped via Fed Ex before, bottles got a little shaken up in transit (my friend said the beer was a bit cloudy) but other than that, it went fine.

I would, however, suggest waiting until it cools off a bit. It's still really hot where I live and my UPS / Fed Ex packages tend to leave from 20 min away from my house at 6 AM, but arrive at my house around 4 PM for some reason. I guess I'm last on the delivery route. Anyway, the point is the bottles might be bouncing around on a truck in 90º+ heat for several hours, so I would wait until it cooled off.