Miss Spiteful and Pipeworks brewing in Chicago, how can I ship them?

March 10, 2015 11:12 AM

I moved to the Bay Area a year ago and have no complaints about the weather thus far. On the other hand I really miss the Chicago breweries that aren't available in stores out here. I'd love to get my hands on some of their new releases, particularly their stouts and porters. Anyone know if it's legal and possible to ship beer to CA for personal consumption and how to go about it?
posted by Carillon to Law & Government (3 answers total)

I would suggest calling some Chicago retailers to see whether they'll ship to you. I am pretty sure Binny's ships out of state, for example, and it looks like these breweries both sell with Binny's (based on their websites). If the store you call doesn't have the beer you want in stock but the brewery does, they might also be willing to special order.

USPS won't ship alcohol, and UPS/FedEx will only work with licensed shippers. In this previous question, some answerers do mention having managed to ship via UPS/FedEx, but that would have been down to luck, or possibly a little bit of obfuscation.

Shipping law varies by state, so the retailer you call will have different policies depending on where you want to ship to and possibly what you’re shipping. However, I don’t think shipping to California would be a problem.
posted by treefort at 12:21 PM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]

Besides Binny's, you can also order from The Craft Beer Temple and West Lakeview Liquors.
posted by nulledge at 12:38 PM on March 10, 2015

Don't do USPS, that is a felony. I may or may not have shipped beer via Fedex pretty regularly for a an out of state friend who was a member of a local beer club without issue. AFAIK that is just a violation of their policy rather than a legal problem. They're not going to go opening your box unless you give them a reason to.

If you are shipping 'bomber' size bottles then there are styrofoam inserts for standard size cardboard boxes (I guess meant for wine?) that will eliminate any problems with packing or breaking. This is how I would get the beers from the beer club (via a CA courier) and then I'd just slap a Fedex label on it.
posted by bradbane at 1:30 PM on March 10, 2015