Taking homebrew to Aussie

[Dan]

A random question for anyone who can answer.

I'm heading to Aussie for Xmas and I want to take a few bottles of my finest ale's over with me - I have a mate who also brews and want to share a few with him.

Can homebrewed beer be taken out of the country? I have brought back beers from oversea's with no problems -explosions or confiscations - but homebrew is a different story. I've emailed the Aussie DAFF - (MAF) but haven't heard back yet.

Any help is welcome - cheers

[Andrew]

Your best bet would be to ring customer service with your airline, they'll be able to tell you what you can and can't fly with. I think as long as its not hand luggae you might get away with it.

[Nicholas Jones]

just bottle it in a branded bottle. they wont ask. Flatty got homebrew back from oz in unmarked PET's piece of cake. I would actually suggest hand luggage so you know its going to get treated alright. Could Buy a bottle of duty free and chuck it in the bag with it, then stuff in your luggage.

[Dan]

Yeah - all my brews get put into 500ml bottles of every brand, shape and form, so I figured that would be sweet. Not goona go with the hand luggage - 200ml maximum and they're pretty strict on that one. Cheers for the advice guys!

[Reviled]

I took a few bottles of home brew in my carry on over to the Gold Coast so I could attend a QLD case swap.

 

Customs guy stopped my bag going through the xray and asked if I had a bottle of sauce, and I said yeah but not the condiment lol

 

He was sweet with it, told me to enjoy it!! lol

[Reviled]

Ahh, this was before that stupid 200ml rule - Funnily enough, in countries that have enough money, the 200ml rule is slightly different - you can bring anything unchecked under 200ml, but for example, LAX can scan bottles for explosive material, so I was able to bring back a few 650ml bottles on my carry on from the states, as they went through the scanner ok.

 

NZ and Australia are too poor/cheap to buy the scanner, so instead they restrict you to 200mls :o(

[Dan]

haha - I watch border control on tv and I've seen how hard they can be on some poor people.

I'm thinkin a poly bin inside my bag, packed nice and tight with clothes - then I can drink whats in there and refill it with some Aussie craft beers for the return home!

[Bambule]

Hi Dan,

 

I recently took a 2.25L rigger and 2x 750ml plastic bottles of homebrew over to 'straya in my check in luggage.  If you're carrying over 2litres of alchol you need to declare it, which I did.  When I showed the aussie customs officer he patted me on the back and said good on ya mate and off I went.  No trouble at all.  Plastic bottles on the safe side I would suggest over glass

[JoKing]

Hey - Bambule... You don't need to declare any alcohol when you visit New Plymouth. Just so you know.

 

I know it seems like we live on the other side of the world - but our local government is totally reasonable. You can bring as much as you like. Even in November.

[Bambule]

Sweet,  I'd heard some of the officials may have required liquid bribes to get in, particularly those at the port.

[Dan]

awesome! thats what I wanted to hear - I don't like the idea of lying to customs officers... cavity searches scare me!!!!

[Andrew]

a finger up the arse I could deal with, some man stealing/confiscating my beer is another story......

[Steph]

I've travelled in and out of Aussie with all sorts of booze and food; just declare it and say it is for your own consumption..