Bringing beer back into the U.S.

Have you considered shipping it? UPS has one or two locations just outside of Brussels. Their website even discusses shipping alcohol. I'll consider doing this when I'm there April '16.

 

The limit is 16 liters:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/travellers/enter_eu/index_en.htm

Pretty hard to exceed that when flying, I think the closest I've had a friend come is 15.5 liters, which was a pretty epic haul.

EDIT: I should say I'm pretty sure that limit is just for it being tax free - I think there's no issue with bringing more, you'd just technically be required to declare it and pay tax on it, as I understand it. But again, it's really difficult to hit that limit.

 

Has anyone ever done this? I was thinking that paying to ship the bottles may be worth not having to deal with carrying them around with me after visiting Brussles and going through customs with them. I don't really want to deal with having to wrap them up though, but i will have styrofoam shippers that I can use.

 

I looked into this once and fount it was ludicrously expensive compared to the option of using / paying for extra checked bags.

If you regularly pack boxes to trade, it shouldn't take you very long at all. Bring along some of your own splicing/electric tape for caps, a bunch of rubber bands, safety scissors and some large ziploc bags...they won't take up any space in your luggage.

Buy boxes, bubble wrap and packing tape/gun at a place like Shurgard in Brussels (there's one about 2 minutes off the shortest route between 3F and Cantillon (trust me) and have at it. It's no more than 20-25 minutes to pack a box for me.

The wife and I have brought back as many as five fully packed (23 kg / 50 lb) boxes (when travelling together) without issue. I once had the good luck to travel B-Class for work which bumped it up to (32 kg / 70 lbs) and I only had to pay for the third bag.

At customs we declare their value (we keep receipts to back it up) and aside from some funny looks and questions about if we're going to sell/trade it (they're smarter than you think), no issues.

I then reuse all the packing material (I break down the boxes to strengthen /double box non styro shippers) when trading to justify the expense.

YMMV.

An alternate (if you really want to ship) is to drive to Antwerp and ship through Belgium In A Box (they will do this for you). I've never done it myself, but I know others who have with good success.

 

As all the others have stated is pretty much the same as mine. Flying with the beer is the best way to go. You will save money and if you carry status or can get all your other stuff into a carry-on bag it will be free.

I have done it so many ways in the past. Put 2 Cantillon 6-bottle boxes inside another box with lots of padding to keep it centered and safe. Packed a suitcase with just beer wrapped up in bubble wrap. Filled a plastic beer crate from a grocery store in Europe with my wrapped beer and then in to another box with padding. Now I have a WineCheck and my beer traveling life is super simple. As long as things are wrapped and don't shift you are golden.

Cantillon currently sells the 3 bottle Styro shipper from these guys Lazenne.com It is a little bulky, for guys like us, to throw in your suitcase since you can do the same thing with Cantillon's 6 bottle box and be just fine. I am in the process of trying to convince them to carry the 6 & 12 bottle shipper and a Cantillon Logo'd WineCheck in house so that people won't have to pay for the shipping to the Hotel or whatever. So, there is a chance by the time you get there some other options may be available. Right now using the code LUXADAM can get 10% off any of their items.

Last time I flew to the States I brought about 22 bottles of beer with me and had not questions or even a funny look. Come to think of it I don't think I ever have since I started flying with beer. Knock on Wood.

 

Not that I'm saying you shouldn't use bubble wrap or styrofoam box but when I was last coming back from the USA to Europe we brought back about 14 bottles (mostly 12oz but a couple of 22oz) split between two suitcases wrapped up just using every item of clothing or towel possible. There was no issue with any of the bottles upon return.

 

In my experience, it depends on the specific make of the bottle...not kidding.

750 mL Tilquin and 3F bottles are (Armand '4 series excepted...they're ~ 3.5 pounds and they're a pain to stuff into most styro shippers) about 2.9-3.1 pounds when full while Cantillon bottles tend to be around 3.4-3.6 pounds. Fantome bottles tend to be 2.7-2.9 pounds. De Ranke bottles are often 3.2-3.4 pounds.

375 mL bottles seem more uniform...typically ~ 1.7-1.9 pounds each.

I typically pack about 10 750s and 3 375s in a box. Add in weight for packing materials and the weight of the box and I'm usually around 47-48 pounds.

Don't forget to account for the extra height of cork/cage bottles (thank you Cantillion and Fantome) if you're bringing ziplocs...the 2.5 gallon ones work better than 1 gallon ones for cork/cage bottles.

If you're using a suitcase, you can also economize by packing your bottles with clothes...jeans and sweatshirts provide reasonable bottle to bottle protection after you wrap individual bottles in socks. If you're bringing back Kriek or Framboise, make sure you're not using anything you absolutely can't lose to stains.

Remember to keep movement inside your suitcase/box to a minimum. The less things move, the better off they are.

If you really want to max out, get yourself one of those luggage scales.

Yes, I've done this a number of times.

 

I had one Winecheck bag filled entirely with 750's (12 of them) and it was 50lbs. almost exactly. IcelandAir gave us an allowance of 55lbs, so there's a little headroom.

 

I flew from ORD to LAX with a secured 12 pack box full of protected bottles/cans and a carry-on luggage with left overs and had no problem with TSA. I also checked in another box full of bottles to JFK from LAX with no problems.

 

TSA at ORD basiclally rolled their eyes at us when we told them we brought back beer and chocolate, and then waved us through. Which was hilarious because my wife was such a worrier about it.