Shipping Beer

General brewing information, questions and discussion. Topics that do not seem to fit elsewhere.

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kittylaloo
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Shipping Beer

Post by kittylaloo »

How is one supposed to ship beer for contests, sharing with relatives, etc.???

Thanks for any info.

Sue.
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brewmeisterintng
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Use UPS

Post by brewmeisterintng »

They do not require a packing list. I highly encourage extra packing materials. I use them for the 2006 Sam Adams comp with no problem.
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hansolo
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Who ships them?

Post by hansolo »

I am a mailman in MI and I thought shipping beer or wine wasn't legal. If you are caught! But, I won't tell anyone. I have wanted to send a few bottles to my friends out of state but never had the nerve to pack it up and send it. Who takes it?
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slothrob
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Re: Who ships them?

Post by slothrob »

hansolo wrote:I am a mailman in MI and I thought shipping beer or wine wasn't legal. If you are caught! But, I won't tell anyone. I have wanted to send a few bottles to my friends out of state but never had the nerve to pack it up and send it. Who takes it?
It just isn't legal through the U.S. postal service, I'm led to believe.
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UPS

Post by locldrfrx »

Shipping for the Long Shot contest last year I used UPS and had no issues.
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Shipping Beer

Post by Beerme »

There are some laws against mailing alcoholic beverages but that's why I only ship "yeast samples"...
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hansolo
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Post by hansolo »

According to Section 2 of the 21st Amendment that repealed Prohibition:
"Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited." It's fun to find out these things. So I imagine that any company or service that ships in the US are held to the same laws as the Post Office. But like I said, if you can get away with it, more power to you!
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slothrob
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shipping beer

Post by slothrob »

While there's a federal law banning the mailing of alcohol specifically by the USPS, I think the law you quote only makes it illegal to send alcohol by other means in/to a particular state that bans the shipping of alcohol.
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hansolo
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Post by hansolo »

It is in the Constitution, 21st Ammendment, it isn't a law specifically for the USPS. From what I found out, it is a federal law for every company that ships state to state. And if you want to get technical by the way it states, it could be city to city. I also found out that the company shipping the package as well as the person using the shipping company can be held responsible for fines or other penalties. Trust me when I say, I think it is a dumb law because I have friends that I would like to send my homebrew to and would like to get some regional brew form other parts of the country. I'm all for it. But it isn't legal like i hope it was. I also found a neat article at realbeer.com
http://www.realbeer.com/library/beerbre ... 011108.php
Last edited by hansolo on Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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brewmeisterintng
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Speeding is not legal

Post by brewmeisterintng »

However, many still do and some even get caught. With that said, has anyone ever hear of anyone that was tried and convicted for shipping a few bottles of homebrew to a brew comp or a friend?
If you feel that it's wrong, don't do it. If you are looking for a shipper, UPS.
It
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hansolo
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Post by hansolo »

I agree, I thought I was helping by actually doing some investigation, but I guess people would rather just do it and roll the dice. Fine with me. Sorry I took the time to help someone else on my own time. Oh, by the way, do you tell them that you are shipping beer through them?
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slothrob
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21st Amendment

Post by slothrob »

Okay, so here's the quote from the 21st Amendment:
"2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited."

What this means is that it is illegal to ship beer into a State, if, and only if, that state prohibits the importation of alcohol. All this means is that the Federal Government was transferring the regulation of alcoholic beverages to the states. If it actually prohibitted the delivery of alcoholic beverages into a state, then we could only drink beer made in our home state.

It also makes no specific mention of mail services. The USPS is an exception only because it is essentially a Federal government agency, allowing Federal regulation of what it ships.
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Post by candleman »

fedex will ship alcohol all day long
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shipping beer

Post by bfabre »

I think you can stand on the loop hole "with intent to sell". If you are sending a few bottles to a comp. along with a notation inside the shipping container for which bottles are to be entered into which catagory. The gov. might whimper and whine a little but, for a couple of bottles sure would not be worth the tax payers money.
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hansolo
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Post by hansolo »

Basically, just sneak it through then? :)
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