Cracked Kettle/private orders from Europe

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:44 pm

Hi guys,

Decided to start this topic in here, firstly because I believe it's relevant to the forum, and secondly to keep it a little bit more "low profile." Please forgive me if it's meant to be in the General page.

If any of you read A Good Beer Blog (http://beerblog.genx40.com/) you might have seen an ad for their sponsor, Cracked Kettle (http://crackedkettle.com).

As the ad states, it's "...an Amsterdam beer shop shipping fine beer globally." According to blogmeister Alan, he has made a small order from the place and had no problem, and I emailed the site owners and said they do ship to Canada with few probs, although Customs might crack it open first.

This is pretty exciting, as they have some excellent Belgians there including the elusive Westvleteren.

The question is: how much booze can I import without getting into trouble with Customs? I'll pay them anything they want me to pay, if they send me a bill, but if the package is 25 pounds, with 10 bottles of beer worth about 40 Euro, will it just not go through? I want to make an order soon while the Westy is still available...any advice would be much appreciated!

robinvboyer · Post by **robinvboyer** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:03 pm

i just checked out the website........they charge 59 euro's for shipping.
go and check out http://shop.belgianshop.com/ instead they have the westy, and the shipping is cheaper. i believe its $50 US.

Bobbyok · Post by **Bobbyok** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:16 pm

robinvboyer wrote:i just checked out the website........they charge 59 euro's for shipping.
go and check out http://shop.belgianshop.com/ instead they have the westy, and the shipping is cheaper. i believe its $50 US.

If you really want Westy, check e-bay. Cheaper for both product and shipping. I got 6 Westy 12s plus a glass for 45 Euro plus shipping, which worked out to about $110 Canadian or $18 a bottle. Belgianshop sells theirs for $25 a bottle and limits you to one - and that's before shipping.

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:40 pm

Wow, I didn't even see the shipping calculator. It's all making sense now!

Okay, so a few beers from this place or its equivalent will end up costing me a couple hundred, easily. It's almost worth it though, isn't it.

detritus · Post by **detritus** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:49 pm

shintriad wrote:Wow, I didn't even see the shipping calculator. It's all making sense now!

Okay, so a few beers from this place or its equivalent will end up costing me a couple hundred, easily. It's almost worth it though, isn't it.

No, it wouldn't (not to me, anyway). I'd be very happy to sell a bottle of Westy 12 to anyone for USD $25 + USD $50 for shipping. I'll hand deliver it for that price.

robinvboyer · Post by **robinvboyer** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:57 pm

If you really want Westy, check e-bay. Cheaper for both product and shipping. I got 6 Westy 12s plus a glass for 45 Euro plus shipping, which worked out to about $110 Canadian or $18 a bottle. Belgianshop sells theirs for $25 a bottle and limits you to one - and that's before shipping.

That's so true, i totally forgot, i got myself 2 west 12, 2 of the 8 and 2 of the blond, and a glass for about $100 all in. I was even messaging the guy who mailed me the beer, and he offered to sell me all sorts of stuff like Struise Panneport, and other great belgians from the struise brewery.

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:35 pm

robinvboyer wrote:That's so true, i totally forgot, i got myself 2 west 12, 2 of the 8 and 2 of the blond, and a glass for about $100 all in. I was even messaging the guy who mailed me the beer, and he offered to sell me all sorts of stuff like Struise Panneport, and other great belgians from the struise brewery.

hehe, not too many people would forget that they got a six pack of westy

i was poking around on ebay and saw a "robinvboyer" when i was going through some of their feedback. good to see a local got some of their stuff safely. i might have to order some...

Al of Kingston · Post by **Al of Kingston** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:03 pm

I had never used any of these services - even eBay - for beer so it will be interesting so see how relatively cost effective they are. I have an author in Amsterdam so much of my credit that I get for the ad may in the end go to him to be most cost effective as a source of comment on rarer beers.

robinvboyer · Post by **robinvboyer** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:14 pm

hehe, not too many people would forget that they got a six pack of westy

i was poking around on ebay and saw a "robinvboyer" when i was going through some of their feedback. good to see a local got some of their stuff safely. i might have to order some...

haha, yeah i know. You wouldnt think someone might forget that!
but i just had my hair of the dog order come in, and i'm waiting on some nutcracker porter, and i'm planning on moving after xmas.......its a hectic time of year!

I digress........yes i got is safely, and it was shipped wonderfully!
and the beer, needless to say was exquisit!

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:54 pm

Geez, now I'm not sure I want to be the guinea pig for this experiment. It's very tempting to just blow a huge wad of cash on these beers I've never seen elsewhere...detritus, any other suggestions?

robinvboyer · Post by **robinvboyer** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:05 pm

on a side not, i saw a bottle of Westy 12 from 1984!!!! for auction on ebay..........it's $20 at the moment for the auction. I'm not sure if its worth betting on. Would a Westy 12 hold up 22 years, or would it now be vinegar?

Gedge · Post by **Gedge** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:22 am

Robin - what was the user name of the seller you bought from on Ebay?

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:27 am

For the record, it is illegal for beverage alcohol to be shipped directly to a consumer in Canada from out of the country. I'm not saying that stuff doesn't get through, but don't count on it always happening so if you're investing any significant amount of money, consumer beware.

Bobbyok · Post by **Bobbyok** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:55 am

esprit wrote:For the record, it is illegal for beverage alcohol to be shipped directly to a consumer in Canada from out of the country. I'm not saying that stuff doesn't get through, but don't count on it always happening so if you're investing any significant amount of money, consumer beware.

True - and Canada Customs appears to be particularly strict and random in its searches of packages. God forbid the feds or the liquor boards lose out on a few duties or tax dollars under guise of protecting our borders. So long as it's not a huge shipment and the shipment isn't obviously mislabelled - say "books" when the box contains glass bottles - I think they tend to let it go.

Al of Kingston · Post by **Al of Kingston** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:58 pm

esprit is quite right and I would note that about 75% to 80% of the readers of A Good Beer Blog are not in Canada so the market for the advertiser is not primarily here. It is unfortunate that we have the rules we do but they are there and it is far better to have the right receipts in hand when speaking to Canada Customs than pretend there is anything else happening.

I understand, especially in homebrewing competition circles that words like "malt product sample" are general descriptors that can be used. I once even received a small box of mini single malt Scotch bottles sent from Canada to Poland under the customs label description "variety kilt perfume".