Customs regulations

[Bobsy]

When I was flying back from Portland I had 13 bombers in my suitcase. Each bottle was in a sock, then I wrapped those around my other clothes.

Ziplok bags on each bottle are good in case one breaks.

I've hear this too, but can't help but thing that if one breaks the glass will puncture the plastic anyway. I've always gone the wrapped in clothes route, and the only issue I had was when a particularly aggressive Belgian beer cap put a couple holes in my sweater.

Now I think of it, ziplock would have solved that problem!

[grub]

Ziplok bags on each bottle are good in case one breaks.

I've hear this too, but can't help but thing that if one breaks the glass will puncture the plastic anyway.

yeah, that's what i've always figured. my thought was to wrap the bottles in a layer of newspaper (which i'd hope to have contain some of the sharp bits) and put that into a ziplock. though, i guess once the paper gets wet it'd tear pretty easily and you'd be right back in the same situation.

i like traveling with bottle shippers if i'm going to a beery destination, and if i need more room, i usually try to get a box in the center of my luggage (for extra external protection) and wrap in clothes/newspaper/bubble wrap or whatever else i have handy.

[lister]

I use two heavy duty freezer ziploc bags per bottle then wrap them in clothes. No issues so far.

[sprague11]

Assuming you are landing in Ontario, you can bring in up to 45 litres of booze (over 5 cases of beer) if you are willing to pay the taxes - and willing to haul it all around!

If you land in Quebec, you can bring in 1 case duty-free and 1 case with duty. This is especially important when you are returning from the US by car and have a choice of routes.

My and a couple other non-beer drinker are hitting Vermont for a weekend in July, would it be better do you think to cross into Quebec or Ontario?

[northyorksammy]

My and a couple other non-beer drinker are hitting Vermont for a weekend in July, would it be better do you think to cross into Quebec or Ontario?[/quote]

from experience-Ontario

[Rumrunner]

This happened to me a year ago.
I was coming back from a fencing tournament in Colorado Springs and was bringing back 3, Two Below from New Belgium Brewery and 3 Red Rocket Pale Ale from Bristol Brewing wrapped in towels. I had locked my bag.
When I arrived home I found the lock had been cut and placed in my bag with a note saying that locked bags on airline's was now illegal.
My 3, Two Below were still in the bag but the 3 Red Rockets had been removed. Guess lock cutting is a thirsty business.
Personally if I were them I would have taken the Two Below as it was a much better beer.

[Kel Varnsen]

My and a couple other non-beer drinker are hitting Vermont for a weekend in July, would it be better do you think to cross into Quebec or Ontario?

from experience-Ontario

Maybe this is just my interpretation but I have found that the later at night you cross the more likely they are to wave you through (if you are honest). My theory is that no one wants to work the night shift so if you tell them you have a case of beer, no one wants to bother to do the paperwork required to get what would probably be a few bucks worth of tax/duty. There was even one time I think I was coming back from NY/Vermont day trip and I crossed at the Ogdensburg/Prescott crossing at probably around 11:30pm. The guy at the booth told me to go inside when I said I had beer. When I got inside the guy looked over my receipts and kind of made a frustrated sigh and just told us to go ahead.

[Belgian]

I cannot fathom why if you have only 24 beer, you pay zero duty on those 24, but if you buy say 48 beer, you pay duty and tax on all 48 (ie. you don't get a break on the first 24.) I think they did this to me once with only 36.

Gotta scare the sheep so they don't stray too far.

[Jon Walker]

I cannot fathom why if you have only 24 beer, you pay zero duty on those 24, but if you buy say 48 beer, you pay duty and tax on all 48 (ie. you don't get a break on the first 24.) I think they did this to me once with only 36.

Gotta scare the sheep so they don't stray too far.

Huh? When I've crossed the border on under two day trips (no exemption) then I've paid duty on the whole amount whether it was 24, 48 or much more, since none is exempt. But trips of over two days (having a 24 bottle exemption) I've even been able to choose which of the beers over 24 were exempt and which weren't...meaning I could exempt the more expensive ones and only pay for the cheaper ones. My last trip across the Manitoba border from Wisconsin was actually quite comical. I had an assortment of 355ml bottles, 330ml bottles, 500ml cans, 650ml bombers, 750ml bottles, litre bottles and a growler. I declared honestly, got waved in and took my receipts inside. The clerk was a young 20's girl who was frankly baffled by my haul. I suppose she usually sees only 24's of Bud which makes the math pretty easy. Since I had mixed sizes she told me the limit in metric (roughly 8.5L) and then let ME do the math and tell her how much over I was and the value of those bottles only. I circled the ones I decided to pay for on the receipt! That was how she calculated my duty and tax...which ended up being barely 10% of my total purchase price.

Frankly I often feel that the more of a pain in the ass the calculation is the more likely they are to let you off easy. There seems to be a lot of discretion as to how they calculate your payable and I have NEVER had anyone subsequently ask to see the beer itself, they just care about the receipts.

As an aside, avoid crossing with beer into B.C. The tax and duty work out to approximately 85% of the purchase price. For example, a six of Stone IPA I paid $10 U.S. for in Bellingham was $18.50 Canadian when all was said and done (granted, back when the exchange was at around 75 cents on the U.S. dollar). Considering the massive amount of reasonably priced quality U.S. micros available in B.C. it mostly isn't worth it.

[Cass]

I cannot fathom why if you have only 24 beer, you pay zero duty on those 24, but if you buy say 48 beer, you pay duty and tax on all 48 (ie. you don't get a break on the first 24.)

I'm pretty sure this is untrue. If you stay out of the country for 48 hours, you get a case exempt. Anything above that is not exempt, but it won't make your entire load taxable.

[Belgian]

Frankly I often feel that the more of a pain in the ass the calculation is the more likely they are to let you off easy.

I give them credit. They seem to 'round down' the actual bottle count given that half my bottles are larger than normal size, AND that the beers are 6.5-12 ABV. Could cost hundreds.

They seem to be after people crossing just to get cheap booze, not beer collectors buying 5-20 dollar single bottles.

[cirrosis]

the restaurant across from de halve maan brewery had a good selection of belgians and really good food. der bier temple was the best store for back to the hotel beers and lambics. i had a rule while in Brugge, no swill beer regardless of how thirsty i was.