How to get microbrews to Mexico? Physics, beer, and travel...

October 18, 2015 1:43 PM

My friend in Mexico is getting married. I want to bring him microbrews. What is the recipe for success?

I live in Colorado and we have an amazing variety of local microbrews. My friend in Mexico is a homebrewer and would really love some samples, I think. Is this possible?

- I'm not worried about paying duty, so the 3L limit doesn't bother me.
- TSA obviously won't let me have bottles in carry-on, so a checked bag.
- I can bubble wrap the crap out of it
- I can insulate it

1) Are microbrew bottles sealed tightly enough to take the slight pressure differential of commercial flight?

2) Is the glass itself at risk?

3) Anything else I need to know?

Thanks everyone!

posted by j_curiouser to Travel & Transportation around Mexico (11 answers total)

Best answer: I've flown with craft beer in a checked bag before. IIRC most of the beers I brought were bottle-fermented and had champagne-style corks (as well as thicker more wine-like bottles) rather than the typical caps. But I think some were more traditionally capped?

I insulated well with clothes, and (again, IIRC) also put the bottles in plastic bags so that breakage wouldn't be a problem. Bubble wrap also couldn't hurt.

All of the beers arrived at my destination intact.

The main reason I would not do this again, though, was the weight. You might want to think about how you are getting to your final destination, and how much/how far you are going to be carrying that checked bag. At the very least, I would probably opt for one of those rented luggage cart things at the airport if I did this again.

Weight can also be an issue, as most US airlines charge excess baggage fees for anything over 50 lbs.
posted by Sara C. at 1:54 PM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Beers are fine to take in checked baggage -- I check a dozen almost every time I fly (including flip-tops and growlers, I typically wrap these up in a garbage bag in case they leak, but haven't had any do so yet). I use a styrofoam wine shipper in a cardboard box (e.g., any local wine shop should be able to sell you one or tell you where to get one) because it's much easier/faster for me to pack, and recently bought one of these (essentially a suitcase wrapper for a styro shipper that gives you wheels and handles), but that's probably overkill for a single trip.

Note that if you check a cardboard box you usually get slightly more hassle from the airline (they want to know what's in it and you sign a liability waiver). I used to avoid additional questions by stating that it was "wine packed by the winery, but this is probably generally not necessary.
posted by j.edwards at 2:20 PM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: And re weight, it can be a hassle and it's annoying to wrangle a big heavy cardboard box -- this was a major reason I got the Wine Check (in addition to it further reducing the hassle of checking in, mitigating incidental bumps and scratches to the cardboard which meant I needed to replace the box every half-dozen trips or so, and not needing to tape the box shut and so rely on TSA to re-tape it properly since they always look into a box full of beer). Generally a dozen large bottles of beer and packing comes in well under the 50lb weight limit, but might not if you're putting them in a hard-shell suitcase with clothes, et cetera.
posted by j.edwards at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2015

Best answer: I take delicious American craft beer in checked luggage for international flights regularly and have never had any problem with bottles. But also, there are lots of great Colorado microbrews available in cans these days. Lower risk of breakage (I see rough airline handling as a bigger risk than pressure), easier shape to pack, slightly lighter weight.
posted by Pseudonaut at 3:22 PM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I frequently check beer on domestic flights in my hard-sided suitcase and endorse j.edwards and Pseudonaut's advice.

Just normally capped beers work fine. I do put each beer in a sock and then in a sealed plastic ziploc bag (just in case they break- some of the liquid will be absorbed and the glass will hopefully be trapped inside the sock and not puncture the bag) and then wrap in bubble wrap,inside a packing cube layered with clothes or in a clothes burrito. One tshirt usually rolls around a beer well. I try to put a layer of non-beer-containing-rolled-clothes under the burritos so that beers are on the inside of the suitcase instead of touching the edge. I have never had a bottle break but once I had a can get bent near the seal and spring a tiny leak; about 2 oz of beer got out over probably 4 hours. I drank it that night and it was fine. Cans are easier to pack and fit in to the suitcase but I always put them inside plastic bags after that experience.

I am a woman and live in a warm climate. To keep my ~7 lb empty hardsided suitcase at 49 lbs and just under the weight limit, and when going to cold climates (filling up suitcase with week's worth of heavy sweaters and winter coat and boots) I can usually get 8-10 12oz beers and clothes, or 15-20 12oz beers and clothes on with the same suitcase on a trip in summer.
posted by holyrood at 4:59 PM on October 18, 2015

Best answer: Over the years, I've transported a few hundred bottles of bottled craft beer between the Netherlands, Colorado, and the Caribbean without a problem. I use a hard-sided suitcase. I wrap each bottle in a layer of bubble wrap and tape it tightly with good packing tape; I then put two or three bottles in a Ziploc-style plastic bag (to contain any potential leaks) and wrap each bag in a piece of clothing. Never had a leak or break. I've also never paid customs duty, but YMMV. You might want to check your packed suitcase's weight before you leave, so you'll know if you'll have to pay a fee for an overweight bag.
posted by neushoorn at 12:15 AM on October 19, 2015

Sommmmmmmmeone who doesn't work for a small brewery whose offices are not local to me definitely didn't tell me that UPS Ground will Ask No Questions.

And sommmmmmmeone else also definitely didn't use a inflatable bottle mailer (like this one from Alibaba, but not from there), each wrapped in double gallon-size Zip-Loc bags, to mail several tall boys halfway across the country.

Definitely didn't. Not once.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:45 AM on October 19, 2015

I have never felt safe putting glass bottles into my checked bags. *shrug* Not before or since 9/11.

Back in The Go-Go Nineties I used to buy twelve local beers in my hometown, put a clean cotton sock around each one, and fill my carry-on backpack with them. Then I would pick up a spinach-garlic-and-Canadian-Bacon pizza at my old job, let it cool down as I ate a slice, and wrap the rest up in Zip-Loc bags to be carried in the same backpack. It left just enough room for a paperback book, and I clanked like Iron Man as I walked, but every security guy who asked seemed impressed & amused -- and waved me right through.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:49 AM on October 19, 2015

Response by poster: good tip, wenesvedt, but delivery is unreliable in this are of mexico. i'll keep that in mind domestically.

sounds like this is easier than i thought - thanks all - i'll let you know how it goes
posted by j_curiouser at 9:50 PM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Here are some real-world remarks on packaging methods from the person who received all the mailed-in submissions to a homebrew competition:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/3psq8e/shipping_beer_for_competition_a_short_review/

In particular the "Styro Shipper" -- a purpose-made styrofoam cube with individual spaces for each bottle -- caught my eye as something that you might even bring to the airport as checked luggage on its own. An example for shipping wine: http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Boxes/Kitchen-moving-boxes/Wine-Shipping-Kits?mid=169
posted by wenestvedt at 8:57 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: here's what i did:

- 7 bombers
- each wrapped individually in bubble wrap
- grouped together vertically in a duffel
- well wrapped in towels - top, bottom, sides

result:
- it got rifled, rearranged, and repacked poorly by tsa. they didn't replace the bubble wrap or towels as i had them
- six of the seven were totally unscathed
- the seventh bottle leaked through the edge of the cap - it was still mostly-carbonated and drinkable on arrival.

verdict: successful, but probably just drew an inside straight
posted by j_curiouser at 9:51 PM on November 2, 2015