Sending Samples Overseas

[cpsmusic]

Hi,

I friend of mine is currently living in Chicago. He's a fellow craftbrewer and we correspond regularly. We want to exchange some samples of our recent brews by post. I realise that there are strict excise laws in the U.S., and then there's the "terrorism" thing (i.e. a bottle filled with a mysterious liquid might make customs a bit suspicious!).

Is it OK to post, say, 1 bottle of brew to the U.S.? Anyone have any experience doing this? Do I risk being sent to Guantanamo Bay (actually, it's being closed, but you know what I mean).

Cheers,

Chris

 

[newguy]

The last time I sent entries to the US was back in June or July for the AHA's NHC 2nd round. They made it across okay. Some tips:

- You can't mail beer to the states. The US postal service classifies alcohol as strictly verboten.
- You'll have to courier the samples. On the customs declaration make sure you call them "yeast samples for analysis - no commercial value" and declare the value of the shipment as $1 per bottle.
- DON'T mark the bottles with anything that can be construed as beer/alcohol. A pretty much foolproof method is to mark each with the BJCP style/substyle like 10A for an american pale ale. Or make up your own cryptic code and just email your friend the legend to the code so he can figure out what's what. Just stick a note in the box saying "paperwork to follow in a separate mailing." This is essential because if customs opens the box and discovers beer bottles with labels saying "Dave's Potent Porter" or somesuch and the declaration says yeast samples, your shipment hits the bin. I suggest you also let your friend know that he has now started a home-based yeast testing service in case they call him to confirm as well.
- Make sure you include a phone # where you can be reached at virtually any hour. A friend got called by US customs once to confirm that the box really contained yeast samples. He said yes, they said okay, and the shipment got through. Two other guys who shipped about the same time weren't home and their shipments were turfed.
- Pack the bottles better than well. Best is to entomb the bottles in styrofoam - either the squirt-in stuff that some shipping companies have or flat sheets of styrofoam insulation with cylinders hollowed out for the bottles. Line the box with a large plastic garbage bag, and wrap each bottle in its own smaller bag. Couriers get VERY angry if parcels start leaking foul smelling liquids onto other packages.

Hope this helps.