Trading (shipping) beer to England?

Discussion in 'Trade Talk' started by BedetheVenerable, Sep 23, 2012.

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  1. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    Is it legal/doable/do people do this often? Black Sheep has recently released a beer I'd go to great, great lengths to get. Brewery-only, I believe, possibly with very limited bottle-shop distribution in the north of England. IF I could find someone to ship me a bottle (750ml) is this legal? Does it work? Any chance that it might be seized (like the so-called 'real' absinthe) by customs? Is it cost prohibitive? Do any of you ever trade overseas?
     
    #1 BedetheVenerable, Sep 23, 2012
  2. forgetfu

    forgetfu Initiate (0) Jul 27, 2007 Colorado

    Legal - That's a word people in this forum don't really talk about. Do you think sending beer across state lines or through the US postal service would be technically legal? I'll leave it at that for now.

    Doable - Sure. People on here send beer to europe all the time. I mostly ship to Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, or Germany, but the UK should be doable as well (I'm writing this from the southwest UK in fact).

    Seized - A small chance, but unlikely. Generally this only happens if a bottle in the shipment breaks during transport. Most times, they just move right on through. The risk is small enough that most of us continue to trade overseas, but we do know we could lose a box at any time.

    Cost - It is expensive. And for 1 bottle it'd make it pretty cost prohibitive. When you're splitting a $60-$80 shipping cost across 6 bottles, it's much more palatable then paying $40 bottles shipping for 1 bottle.

    Your challenge is going to be finding someone to send you a bottle. I've met quite a few of the UK beer guys, and most of them don't trade or ship. If you're looking for a trade, try posting it on multiple site's forums as there aren't a lot of international traders on BA. Make sure you really offer something that's good enough to convince someone to go out of their way to go get you a bottle and deal with shipping it. And even if you do, don't be surprised if you don't get any responses.

    Also, if you haven't done much trading, don't be surprised if you're expected to ship first. That's a reasonable (and normal) request made of new traders.
     
    #2 forgetfu, Sep 23, 2012
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  3. shyhenry

    shyhenry Initiate (0) Oct 11, 2010 Minnesota

    Are you talking about Progress or their RIS?
     
    #3 shyhenry, Sep 23, 2012
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  4. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    The bottled Progress. I was fortunate enough to have (unknowingly) scheduled my wife and my honeymoon to Northumbria a couple of weeks after the brewery release of the RIS. Got ourselves three bottles (sadly, one broke in the suitcase due to rough handling). But I saw what basically amounts to a 750 of an English Barleywine made by my favorite brewer and immediately the 'gotta have it' flashers went off :slight_smile:
     
    #4 BedetheVenerable, Sep 23, 2012
  5. BigTomZ

    BigTomZ Initiate (0) Apr 14, 2009 Virginia

    It would be really expensive. When I was in the Air Force and stationed over there I had the advantage of APO mail. If I didn't, I doubt I would have shipped anything or had anything shipped to me.
     
    #5 BigTomZ, Sep 24, 2012
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