Bringing beer back into the U.S.

An acquaintance of mine ended up bringing 3 cases worth of cantillon back with him in his suitcase (or maybe it was multiple). Can't say I recommend that but it's been done.

 

I always fly home with beer. My preferred method is just to pack bottles in my hard sided luggage, but I have also checked both 6 and 12 bottle styro shippers many times. A 12 bottle styro shipper with 12 x 750ml bottles should be under the 22kg checked bag limit. As far as I know, there is no limit on how much beer you can bring but if it's a huge amount (think 5-10 cases probably) you may be suspected of bringing it in for resale. Customs can also decide to make you pay import tarifs of $1-2 per litre, but I've never had that happen or heard of it happening to anyone.

I usually fly through LHR and I've never flown with less than 12 bottles either direction and I think my biggest US bound flight was 2 x 12 bottle styro shippers with another ~10 x 750ml in suitcases.

 

This item is your friend for Belgium: http://www.thewinecheck.com/
If you fill it completely full of nothing buy 750's, it still comes in right under 50 lbs.
My wife and I filled 2 of those and still stashed another 7-8 bottles in our normal luggage with no issues. 35'ish bottles in total based on memory.
For 12oz and 375's, you can stuff newspaper in styrofoam to keep them from jostling around too much.
TSA couldn't care less.

 

This is true, but United gave me a ton of trouble flying SFO -> ORD. Legal vs allowed. Huge PITA.

 

There's no official limit for personal use, so you should be fine regarding customs: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...g-homemade-wine)-to-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

That says anything over a liter you are obliged to pay a duty for but I've never had to. Granted I generally am not bringing nearly as much in that direction as I am back into Europe, but I regularly exceed the liter and they don't bat an eye. As far as packing, I generally do 750s in these: http://www.amazon.com/Ellessco-LLC-VB01-VinniBag-Inflatable/dp/B0041IC244

After a couple years I had to toss two of the three I had because they no longer hold air, but they're pretty nice and are useful with growlers because sometimes they leak (the VinniBag seals up like a dry back).

For larger amounts of bottles or cans I generally just try and pack them tight with some padding between them so they don't shift too much and I've never had a problem. The enemy here is movement - so make sure the bottles (and other things in your suitcase) won't move around, and you won't have an issue in a normal suitcase. I had a friend that just tossed a bunch of stuff in some bags (brought nearly 15L into Germany!) and he ended up losing a can due to it being punctured by other stuff floating around in his bag.

 

Flew in October to Chicago and had a extra suitcase with only beer in and was not a problem... Paid €68 for the suitcase for 23 kilo westvleteren and geuze for friends... Even had stickers fragile on it

 

No way.

 

If only. This is Virgin Atlantic:

 

According to customs, you're allowed to bring any amount of beer or wine back in your luggage. I just brought back somewhere around 8 bottles back to the states with me. I travel constantly domestically and internationally and have never had an issue with bottles in luggage. Go ham, just remember costs of bags and weight limits.

 

We've brought bottles back numerous times and never had an issue. Bubble wrap and good packing to protect your treasure. If asked, I would declare what you have. Worse case if you declare is you may have to pay some duty taxes. But better that than risk losing what you've brought back. Having said that, we've never been asked.

 

Are the rules fairly similar for bringing beer into Belgium? I'd like to bring a couple bottles as gifts for our hosts if possible.

 

Flew with klm and was €68 for a suitcase booking in advance as extra...

 

And in Chicago the customs requested if I had to declare something. Told them beers and that was not a problem...

 

My wife and I brought back 28 bottles from our trip to Belgium in September. We used the above mentioned wine check bag for all of the 750's and mixed in the rest with the remainder of our luggage. You don't have to declare it, and customs back in Atlanta could have cared less. I was honestly more worried about someone opening the bag and straight up stealing some of the beer than I was about customs.

Honestly you should haven't any problems unless you stash food in with your beer. Meats, Cheeses, plants, etc. will definitely get you flagged and you may have to answer more questions.

 

I brought 75lb of Russian River last trip. No problems at all.