Bringing Beer Back To Australia From Belgium

[stueywhytcross]

hi, i am currently on holidays in Belgium and i need to know how many litres of beer i am able to bring back to Australia?
Also apart from the trappist beers, what beers should I definantly include in my haul??
Cheers

 

[kook]

hi, i am currently on holidays in Belgium and i need to know how many litres of beer i am able to bring back to Australia?
Also apart from the trappist beers, what beers should I definantly include in my haul??
Cheers

As many as you like! So long as you're willing to pay excise / duty. Best option is to buy styrofoam wine shippers, they're big boxes that hold 12 wine bottles, or 12 longnecks. Two of those, along with carefully padded bottles in your luggage and you can easily bring home 30-40 bottles.

Otherwise, 1.5L duty free.

 

[hoohaaman]

Lucky ******* B)

 

[Stuster]

Currently in the same situation, Stu. (you must have been at the Stu convention too ). I think the regs have changed now (for the better) and you can bring back 2.25L per adult. From here.

Alcohol
If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring 2.25 litres of alcohol duty-free into Australia with you. All alcohol in accompanied baggage is included in this category, regardless of where or how it was purchased.

Think I'll be over the limit but it's still worth it I think.

 

[Handy]

Currently in the same situation, Stu. (you must have been at the Stu convention too ). I think the regs have changed now (for the better) and you can bring back 2.25L per adult. From here.



Think I'll be over the limit but it's still worth it I think.

I believe that if you go over the 2.25 L limit, you lose the duty exemption on that first 2.25 L. Which is a stupid rule.

 

[Screwtop]

Unsure of the amount, Bro in Law brought back a dozen or so for me a year ago. Definitely beers from the Trappist Abbey at Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtus Abbdij) can only buy them from the Abbey.

Donkerstraat 13
8640 Westvleteren
075/40 03 77

 

[kevo]

Alcohol
If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring 2.25 litres of alcohol duty-free into Australia with you. All alcohol in accompanied baggage is included in this category, regardless of where or how it was purchased.

I wonder (semi-seriously) if you could argue a technicality.

eg. A 330ml bottle of Westvleteren 8 has 8% alcohol.....thats 26(ish) ml of alcohol?

By my smart arse maths, I could bring home about 86 bottles? 86 bottles X 26ml per bottle = approx 2.25 L of actual alcohol.

Might be worth investigating beforehand

 

[reVoxAHB]

Wish the smart ass maths would apply kevo but i'm guessing not a chance. That's why everyone generally brings in the hard stuff.. more bang for your buck duty wise, for lack of a better term.

So what's the duty charge per L on alcohol? I'm headed to the States soon and will return to Aus with approx. 12 bottles of beer.

reVox

 

[Trent]

reVox
They charge you on everything once you go over the 2.25L of drink, you dont get the first 2.25L excise free, sadly. It depends on the alcohol in the beer - I think that 3.5%-5% carries a charge of around $38 per litre of alcohol. Once you get uo over that, it is somewhere around $50 per L of alcohol, and over 10% it is somewheer around $80 per litre of alcohol.
PM me if you want a few pointers on minimising the damage.
T.

 

[kook]

I wonder (semi-seriously) if you could argue a technicality.

eg. A 330ml bottle of Westvleteren 8 has 8% alcohol.....thats 26(ish) ml of alcohol?

By my smart arse maths, I could bring home about 86 bottles? 86 bottles X 26ml per bottle = approx 2.25 L of actual alcohol.

Might be worth investigating beforehand

It's not based on litres of alcohol, but on litres of alcoholic beverage. So you can bring in 2.25L (sorry, I don't know why I thought 1.5, I just know it was 2 duty free spirit bottles) of spirits, wine, beer or anything.

Oh - and don't argue with customs, or they'll make your life really difficult. Turn up with a list of all the beers you have, ABV, cost and volume. It'll make their life easier as they just need to type it all in. Otherwise you'll be waiting for an hour while they look at each and every bottle.

 

[homekegger1]

On my last trip to NZ last year I called customs re- bringing in more beer as opposed to 2 bottles of spirits and was told, "Anything over the allowance will attract an excise of $35 per litre, including the allowance." Therefore a box of Emersons was going to cost me around $200 in tax plus what it actually cost me for the beer.

Kind of crappy since you get a heap of "Standard" drinks from spirits as opposed to the same volume of beer.

Gotta love the government rules.

Cheers

HK

 

[quantocks]

used to work in Quarantine

some people would bring cases of Fiji Bitter all the time and pay no tax, however it depends on who you get. If you are bringing back spirits, dump the bottle and put it in a lemonade bottle/coke bottle and you will have no dramas (unless you have a stack of them)

Australia


2.25 litres (18 yrs+)


250 cigarettes, or 250 grams of tobacco or cigars (18 yrs+)


AUD900 (450AUD for persons under 18 yrs) worth of other personal goods. e.g. cameras, perfumes etc


but remember, if you exceed the limits and don't declare what you have, you will pay tax on the whole lot, so you lose your 2.25 litres.

 

[Korev]

2250ml ~ 6 bottles 330ml size of the best selection - try for Pannepot and other strong rare beers from the supermarket. Double this amount if with significant other!

 

[Dicko ACT]

hi, i am currently on holidays in Belgium and i need to know how many litres of beer i am able to bring back to Australia?
Also apart from the trappist beers, what beers should I definantly include in my haul??
Cheers

I say **** it... Smuggle it in by the box load! That way, I will be able to relive your experience next time I visit.

Besides, Carly and I will still visit you if your locked up.

 

[PostModern]

My last time thru customs, I had half my bag full of Kiwi micro beers. When they showed up on the xray, the customs guy asked what was in all the bottles. I said "beer, mate". He let me thru with no duty payable. ymmv.

 

[Josh]

Customs Officer here... PM for some advice.

 

[stueywhytcross]

Just an update on how I went bringing back 5L of Belgian Beers through customs in my luggage.

I was looking to send beers back via surface mail but this was going to be extremely expensive. I decided to just fill my bags with as much beer as i could fit in, declare it all at customs and pay the excise.

When I arrived into Australia on Australia day, i declared that i had more than 2.25L of alcohol, I was then pulled aside and asked how much and what kind, I said about 4 Litres and it was all beer, the customs officer said No problems and let me go without even checking!.

I had previously emailed Customs about the duty payable, they replied with this letter.
Stuart,

Thank you for your email.

The volume of alcoholic beverages that passengers 18 years and over may bring into Australia duty and tax free is 2.25 litres. If this limit is exceeded, then the duty and tax will be charged on the full importation, not just on the volume that exceeded the limit.

Beer (under tariff heading 2203) with strength 3.50% and greater, in containers equal to or less than 48 litres attract a duty rate of $40.46/L of alcohol, calculated on that alcohol content by which the percentage by volume of alcohol of the goods exceeds 1.15.

Assuming 5% strength and volume of (12 x 375ml bottle or 4.5 litres) and value of the beer as $24, duty would be calculated as:

Rate per LAL (Litres of Alcohol) x (Strength - 1.15) x Volume
$40.46 x 3.85% x 4.5 litres

Duty is $7.01

Goods and Services Tax (GST) would be calculated as:

GST is 10% of the VOTI (Value of the Taxable Importation)
Value of the beer + the duty + the international transport & insurance
VOTI = $24.00 + $7.01 + 0
GST = 10% of 31.01
GST = $3.10

Total Duty and GST Payable = $ 7.01 + 3.10 = $10.11

Regards

Romeo P.
Customs Information & Support Centre


The one thing you need to think about though is the extra weight in luggage!, Etihad tried to sting me 13pounds per extra kilo over 20kgs. I had 32kgs!!!!!!! but with a bit of rearranging and complaining i got it down to 29kg and he waved the excess!
In my haul I managed to get a few Westverletern 6,8 and 12. Plus one of each trappist and all their varieties.

Highly recommend visiting Belgium, it is a brewers heaven.

 

[Stuster]

Back now, I thought I'd post a picture of the beers I did manage to haul back with me. Ok, so I'm just bragging.



Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella, Girardin Gueuze, Girardin Framboise, De Cam Oude Kriek, 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Blaugies La Moneuse



Verhaeghe Vichtenaar, Ichtegem's Grand Cru Flemish Red Ale, Hercule Stout, Kasteel Bruin, Ichtegem's Oud Bruin and finishing off with the non-Belgian Thomas Hardy's Ale from the supermarket in Britain. :super:

Really looking forward to sharing and tasting these ones. I've had a few of them over there, but most are ones I didn't get the chance to try. So many beers in Belgium, so little time. :icon_drunk:

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Back now, I thought I'd post a picture of the beers I did manage to haul back with me. Ok, so I'm just bragging.

View attachment 24427

Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella, Girardin Gueuze, Girardin Framboise, De Cam Oude Kriek, 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Blaugies La Moneuse

View attachment 24428

Verhaeghe Vichtenaar, Ichtegem's Grand Cru Flemish Red Ale, Hercule Stout, Kasteel Bruin, Ichtegem's Oud Bruin and finishing off with the non-Belgian Thomas Hardy's Ale from the supermarket in Britain. :super:

Really looking forward to sharing and tasting these ones. I've had a few of them over there, but most are ones I didn't get the chance to try. So many beers in Belgium, so little time. :icon_drunk:

Welcome back Stuster :beer: .

By the looks of that haul I would say you have had a very good holiday.

C&B
TDA

 

[caleb]

Back now, I thought I'd post a picture of the beers I did manage to haul back with me. Ok, so I'm just bragging.

View attachment 24427

Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella, Girardin Gueuze, Girardin Framboise, De Cam Oude Kriek, 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Blaugies La Moneuse

:excl:
Look, I'm afraid all those beers will be infected. Nasty stuff full of brett, lacto, pedo, and who knows what else... Don't even open them in your home or they'll infect your brew gear forever. I'll be around tomorrow to collect them for you and dispose of them safely.