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Shipping Homebrew from Canada to the U.S.

S.O.B.

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Hello all,

  I'm looking to ship home brew to the U.S..  Has anyone done this?  How?  What are the legalities?  I understand that Canada post will pass it off to the USPS once at the border and the USPS does not allow the shipment of alcohol. Sounds like fed-ex doesn't either. 
  I would love to hear some thoughts and experiences.

  Thanks
 
We have a number of companies that ship beer or wine to a home residence in the US. My daughter sends me a beer of the month package every Xmas. It comes by either FedEx or UPS. I have no idea what the legal process for over the border shipments or if it is legal in all states. You might try checking out some of the companies and see if their shipping requirements might help you out. I googled "beer by mail" and got lots of responses, you may also try "Beer of the month".

Good luck.
 
That's good info ! I live in St. Louis and have a friend way down south. He asked me to make an old chub clone .But never did because I rarely see him. Now that I know I can mail him a case . I'm guessing that will be my next beer. Thanx
 
I have looked into this before and you are not going to like the answer.

It is illegal to ship homebrew interstate depending on the states involved. That is what some State law says, but you will find people who do it all the time.
It is illegal to ship any alcohol via USPS.
It is against the policy of Fedex and UPS to ship homebrew. That being said they do it all the time. Apparently contents are described by the customer as "live yeast samples" - what they don't know does not hurt them ;)

To ship from Canada to The USA could possibly be considered smuggling unless you go out of you way to insure all taxes and duties are paid. Most likely if discovered the contents would simply be seized, but there is to potential to get in serious trouble so I would not risk it.

The "Beer of the Month" type operators are shipping commercially produced product and have special arrangements with their shipping companies, the correct permits and are paying all the duties and taxes - it is a completely different situation.

Mostly the issue with shipping homebrew is the Sate/Feds want their share. I can't imagine that sending a few bottles of beer is going to get you in legal trouble - but it can't be ruled out. Yet if it were not for people doing this Homebrew competitions would only be local events, and clearly that is not true.
 
Maybe a liquor store could send it to another liquor store, kinda like how firearms are legally transferred from licensed dealer to license dealer. Just a thought.
 
List it as soda. The chances that customs is going to crack one and sample it is really rare.
If they do, plead ignorance and have a soda recipe ready to show...
 
Try USPS. They can ship from USA to Canada at reasonable price.
 
USPS Shipping is the best Shipping for U and they can ship from USA to Canada at reasonable price.
 
TAHammerton said:
I Apparently contents are described by the customer as "live yeast samples" - what they don't know does not hurt them ;)

All shippers are aware of this ruse and no longer fall for it. Listen to the Brulosophy "Bru&A #6" podcast. They discuss packaging and labeling techniques. However they do not get into international shipping.
 
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