Getting my brew from point A to point B

I'm going to have three batches of beer and a batch of holiday cider ready this Christmas. I live in Tennessee, and my Dad, his wife, and my inlaws all live in New Mexico. I'm flying out there to visit for Christmas, my brother and his wife will be there too, and they're all anxious to sample my creations.

Now I hear it's damn near impossible to get beer across state lines short of driving it yourself! UPS, FedEx and USPS won't ship it, and airlines won't let you check it! It seems like the only way to ship beer is illegal, and it's to not say what's in the package and hope that nobody opens it on the way to its destination!

Can this be true? Does our government really have an interest in preventing us from sharing a legal beverage with our interstate friends and relatives without any profit whatsoever? Do I really have to commit a FEDERAL OFFENSE just so my family can taste my beer, short of flying them all here or driving across the country? This sucks royally.

I travel extensively and bring home beer all the time in checked baggage.



YOu can ship via UPS this way too. When asked about the contents, tell them yeast samples in medium.

Interesting. I'll call American Airlines and find out what their policy on alcohol in checked baggage is.

I read elsewhere that due to the new liquid regulations you can't check it anymore.

The damn airline just has a computerized answering service that directed me to their website for information.

According to this: American Airlines Restricted Items Information Beer and Wine must be in their original "retail packaging". How does that work for homebrew??

I have had no problem with Southwest or Continental.

Tickets are already booked. I guess I'll pack and hope for the best... worst case some TSA employees will have an extra-merry christmas.

bernerbits said:

Tickets are already booked. I guess I'll pack and hope for the best... worst case some TSA employees will have an extra-merry christmas.

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Reminds of the time I came through the inspection line with 2 lbs of vacuum packed hops and 4 lbs of DME in my carry-on and SSSSS on my boarding pass. What can I say - it was a long night.

Paul

I can't speak for the other airlines, but Southwest says up to 5 liters in checked baggage. When I travel up to NY to visit friends, I use my "don't need no stinkin' beer gun" to fill up 2 two liter bottles. I simply slap on a strip of wide masking tape with the name, style, OG, FG, and ABV. I haven't had an issue yet.

I've never had a problem checking bags with beer. I think the only problem you would run into would be to try and have them as carry on. I've never even told them I had it in my bags. just checked it and went about my business.

UPS and FedEx are no problem, and I have never even been asked a question other than where to. I have also flown within the past year with homebrews on Southwest and a buddy went on AA, no problems there either.

About how many bottles have people been checking? I estimated I'd need about 4 22-oz bottles of each batch... That's ~2.75 gallons of liquid in my suitcase. They aren't going to fret about that?

I can speak from experience about the inner workings of UPS. I use to load trucks for them and they don't care at all what's in the package as long as it's not a hazardous material. And if your package is by chance damaged somehow and it is discovered that there is beer in there no one will do anything. It will be mopped up and paper work will be filled out for a damaged package. So my advice would be to ship it out there and not to worry about having to mess with airport restrictions.

So when UPS asks what's in the package, do I just say random Christmas presents?

bernerbits said:

So when UPS asks what's in the package, do I just say random Christmas presents?

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Or say Adult Toys and make them feel awkward.

bernerbits said:

So when UPS asks what's in the package, do I just say random Christmas presents?

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Glassware or "collectible glassware"

bernerbits said:

So when UPS asks what's in the package, do I just say random Christmas presents?

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"Yeast Samples in Medium" works and is the truthful.

+1 on UPS the people who would actually be handling your package on the off chance it opened are not going to care what is in it. I unload trucks for ups and if we come across a package that is open we tape it back up and send it on its way. If it is leaking from broken bottles, like Austin said it will be mopped up and reported. No one is going to hunt you down for sending beer through the system.

OK, this post had had me worried:

Pacific Brew News Blog: I Am Not a Criminal

But if people here are experiencing different, then that makes me feel a bit better.

i don't know if i would trust the airlines.....they call baggage handlers "throwers" for a reason

The only thing with the airlines would be the price some are charging for checked baggage vs. ups shipping. Also some airlines limit the weight of suitcases and then make you pay extreme overwieght charges, so packing in your luggage may not be cost effective either. I checked a half case of wine, in a seperate box no less, coming back from Hawaii last year and had no problems on American Airlines.

It's like when you are standing at the baggage carousel and all of a sudden a cooler comes crusing by. WTF??

I would go with ups.

wrap each bottle in bubble wrap and news paper then seal in a ziplock. then take a heavy trash bag and fill it with paper and put them in. seal it as well as you can and tape it then put it in the box with some more paper. if a bottle breaks hopefully the paper will absorb enough to keep it from leaking out of the bags.

you could also try wrapping them and bagging in ziplocks then spreading them out in a heavy box and filling with door&window great stuff (blue can) or maybe regular (red can) (definately not the black can). spray a layer on the bottom of the box then add bottles and fill the rest. have not actually tried it so not sure how it would work but i would think it would be the most secure way to pack them. though not cheap. maybe even get a large blue print tube and fill that with great stuff if its big enough for your bottles.

also write glass on the box (it might help) and tell them they are glass bottles. dont need to mention they are filled with beer.

How big a box will I need to ship 16 22-oz bottles of beer with bubblewrap, ziplocs and newspaper?

bernerbits said:

How big a box will I need to ship 16 22-oz bottles of beer with bubblewrap, ziplocs and newspaper?

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I would break that down into two boxes of 8 bottles. 16 wine sized bottles is pretty big and will weigh a lot.

I'd go look for good wine/liquor boxes at the local wine/liquor vendor - thick double-wall corrugated cardboard with good thick dividers. Starting from that, pad empty space, and consider double-boxing with a box 1-2" bigger and padding/bubblewrap. Obviously makes units of 6 or 12 make more sense than 8/16, with typical boxes.

I shipped some Bigfoot through the US Mail in a cooler w/ a freezer pack & two wedges of Maytag Blue Cheese. It was from a lost football bet.

I debated about saying yeast samples in medium, I wound up saying it was books.

Package it up good and send it well before you leave as delivery can be slow during the holidays.

I just brought back 8 22 oz. bottles in my checked baggage from San Diego with no problems at all.

bernerbits said:

So when UPS asks what's in the package, do I just say random Christmas presents?

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That has never happened to me.

bernerbits, simma down man, simma down. No one is going to care about your bottles. They'll be too busy to care, especially during the holidays. I've shipped beer several times, and not once did they ask what was in it. If you wanna save some money on shipping, don't mail all the bottles at once, bring some in your checked luggage as well.

If you sign up at UPS.com for a free account, you can print out your shipping labels and then just drop your box off at a UPS store or any drop location like Staples, etc.

They never ask what is in it as it is prepaid and labeled and ready to go.

BarleyWater said:

That has never happened to me.

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They ask if you drop it off at a "UPS store" to have the shipping processed there, they ask it for insurance pricing.

Print the labels on line and drop the box off, they never look inside or ask what's in there.

I've never had any of my packages tampered with at all, and I've broken the UPS/FedEx/USPS rules plenty of times.

Hmm, it is interesting to see so many people checking beer in their luggage. Before 9/11 I used to carry-on beer all the time from CO when returning to FL (and their antiquated beer laws) for friends.

Since 9/11 I never attempted to check it though, as I was afraid the changing in pressure of being in baggage would cause bottle bombs. From what I am reading, that doesn't seem to be the case though.

Great news for my friends and family!

If you're worried about breaking bottles during shipping you could consider bottling a few in plastic bottles. I know PET bottles come in a 0.5L size and there may be other sizes too.

mttewes said:

If you're worried about breaking bottles during shipping you could consider bottling a few in plastic bottles. I know PET bottles come in a 0.5L size and there may be other sizes too.

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Hah! You beat me to the punch! Good thing I read the whole thread before posting...I'm with mttewes on this one. Why not go with plastic if breaking/bursting/etc is a concern?

I used to work at an Office Depot and we had people come in a lot to label packages for UPS. We really didn't care what was inside but it had to weighed correctly. So if you claim it is something other than beer then no-one will care...but it has to at least weigh similar to your claim. So don't claim it's something that doesn't at least feel right. Why not say it is root beer?

-Tripod