Flying out of the country with homebrew?

I did a quick search but only found threads relating to shipping through customs. Next month we are making a trip to Bonaire. One of the managers at a resort is interested in trying some homebrew so I told him I'd take a few with me. In turn he said he'd have something special for me at the bar.

I've brought commercial beer back into the country, checked luggage, without any problems. I just didn't know if I may run into problems with homebrew while leaving the country.

Any insight?

The only advice that I can offer you is to pack it really well in checked luggage and hope for the best.

I'd check the customs regulations of where ever you are going.

IMHO you might be better off shipping it over there via UPS of Fedex

To borrow and slightly alter a qouote off of cracked.com.....

The answer to "How much Homebrew Can I fly out of country with?"

IS: "How much homebrew can you fit in your pants?"

Crossing state lines is a little iffy, you might be better off shipping it ahead.

I don't know what the limits are but when I travel overseas I always take a selection of US Commercial beers to share with the locals that I meet there. I've taken as much as 6 22oz. bottles packed in my checked luggage without any problem. And I've always told the customs folks that I had them when entering the country. I've done this both flying into London and into Paris.

beeraggie said:

IMHO you might be better off shipping it over there via UPS of Fedex

Click to expand...

Doubt you'd be able to ship...there was a thread yesterday about the problems of shipping beer. It's against most company's policies...and it's risky to lie and try to do it anyway.

I saw something somewhere that a guy took a big solid block of styrofoam (or built the block with 1" sheets glued together) and cut with a hole saw, individual holes that held an individual bottle. I'd do something like that, maybe even cut smaller indentations in the left over disks to accomodate the bottle caps, and plug the holes once the bottles were in there. The put that in a cardboard box and stick that in a big suitcase...Or even pay for an extra box or bag....

I don't know if it'd pass xray though...Airlines are mighty sacred about liquid on planes these days.

I shipped 2 bottles packed in bubblewrap in a tiny box. It got there fine(in the US)

Maybe I could just slap some Bud labels on the bottles. j/k

Ugh, I just don't know what to do. Would I need to check with US and Bonaire customs or just Bonaire's?

It all depends on customs where you are going. I took homebrew to Mexico and there was a limit of how much "alcohol" you can take in general. And, it had to be labeled as beer. I made some labels out of duck tape, and triple wrapped the bottles in zip locks and was just fine. I may have even vaccum sealed them. I've also taken commercial beer to belgium with no probs.

Page 32 on the book in this link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Xr...GVDk&sig=bon-njyLt_vuQJOH-drDN0NBDdE#PPA32,M1

Looks like you can take in 2 liters of liquor if you are over 18.

freyguy said:

Page 32 on the book in this link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Xr...GVDk&sig=bon-njyLt_vuQJOH-drDN0NBDdE#PPA32,M1

Looks like you can take in 2 liters of liquor if you are over 18.

Click to expand...

Great link, thanks for that. Although that page also states that no meat can be brought into the country. I've seen people actually have coolers of meat that they checked as luggage. :rockin: I guess they are a bit lax on that part.

Thanks again to everyone who gave tips.

won't happen. security is too paranoid. you can thank it all to "9-11".

You'll love Bonaire. Best shore diving ever.

Where is Bonaire?


Is it in my pants? I think Bonaire is in my pants.