Bringing beer in checked luggage.

Z

zag

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I am heading to the US in a few weeks and one of my work colleagues wants some 'real Irish beer' brought over. I'm trying to work out the easiest way of doing this.

I have taken bottles of wine in checked luggage before, but that wasn't fizzy and I don't know how well pressurised cans & bottles take to being shaken around on luggage carts and being thrown on planes and then pressurised on take-off.

I guess it is probably OK, but I'm wondeirng what other peoples experiences have been. I can't really turn up for work in a beer stained shirt on my first morning there.

Ta,

z
 
A former colleague of mine lost some suits & other clothing when a couple of bottles of wine he was carrying in his suitcase broke... I would pack in a seperate bag containing items I would survive without.
 
Might be worth checking what it would cost to send by Fedex or the like? How much do you want to bring/send? The cost may be better than the cost of new suits etc.
 
There's a shop that sells cans of guinness in departures so I guess they'll do the same as with if you buy spirits they will handle it for you till you get on the plane or to the other side.
 
Surely Irish beers such as Guinness are freely available in NY, Boston and other US cities?
 
I know that for wine you can buy special boxes/cases (that you can then pack in your normal case) to protect from breakages/spillages. A colleague of mine used on when bringing a load of wine back to the UK from California before Xmas. Maybe you can get something similar for beer bottles? I'd imagine that specialist off-license or a Google for info might help?
 
Thanks for the replies. Indeed, I think the selection of Irish beers in the local sports bar where I am going is better than in a lot of places at home, but still and all you can't beat real stuff from home (or so I'm told). This is of course despite the fact that the stuff consumed here is probably brewed in a mega-factory in Birmingham or Shanghai or something.

It's only supposed to be a small token carried over by me, so I don't think Fedex would meet the criteria.

I was thinking of getting it in Duty Free, but have heard bad stories of stuff being confiscated before getting on the internal US flight. Because you can't transit directly after arriving on an international flight you have to go back through the 'normal' domestic security that everyone else does in the US so you fall foul of the usual carry-on limits again.

I might bring along a small suitcase just for the purpose - there isn't the same strict luggage quantity restrictions on trans-atlantic flights, so that should be OK.

Cheers,

z
 
Be careful with U.S. Customs (or Border Control as I think they are now known). AFAIK there is a limit of one liter (US spelling ;)) on imports of alcohol in baggage. And AFAIK a liter of beer is treated the same way as a liter of Whiskey.
 
I've brought bottles of to friends in Europe and brought many bottles of Belgian beer back from trips there with no problems.
 
i haven't looked in a while but you used to be able to buy a three pack of the carlow brewing beers in the duty free in dublin airport. whatever you do, don't pack a strawberry smoothie into any bags you bring on board, it could end up exploding and dripping onto someone's white dress :eek: as happened to me before
 
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