Moving country...best way to take my bottles?

[omnom]

Hi guys, I already have a few bottles and I plan on having a few more soon, and on top of that I plan on buying a few PVWs at next release...

...but I am then moving to Australia later this year.

Does anyone have any knowledge/suggestions on legalities and best methods to get my collection to Australia safely?

IS there a legal way to ship them? I don't mind paying the price for it if it's doable. If there is a way, I have someone here in the US whose house I can store any number of bottles at if I have to ship them separately or something. I just want to get them to my house in Australia safely and have no idea how to go about it.

I will have a lot of unopened bottles, and I don't think I am able to just ship them from USA to Australia myself legally.

Any information/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[ILLfarmboy]

Could be Illegal, either way you try.

....and you know me, I'd never advise to do anything illegal.

And....don't even think about tearing those tags off your mattress.

[omnom]

hah. yeah. I do not want to do anything illegal :P

I just found this out though:

"If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring 2.25L of alcohol duty-free into Australia with you. All alcohol in accompanied baggage is included in this category, regardless of where or how it was purchased."

I guess my only option is to put it in my checked baggage, which leads to a further question...is this going to ruin my bourbon? Sloshing it around, potentially sitting the wrong way up in my bags for the 20+ hours of flights...

I have no worries about the bottles breaking, will be easy to pack them safely.

[LostBottle]

20+ hours in an airplane should not have any adverse effect on your bourbon.

Contact with the cork for a day or so is definitely not the same as storing them laying down. As far as temp, I know some airlines can take steps with wine to ensure that it is not effected by temperature variations, I would try and get your bottles transported in this manner - that said, even this is probably unnecessary. Transport and storage is another reason I am glad I am into whisk(e)y rather than wine.

Lastly, if you have any George T Stagg - leave it here. I just found out a couple weeks ago it is illegal to put into check-in or ship via air due to the alcohol content being above 70%.

[AaronWF]

Contact with the cork for a day or so is definitely not the same as storing them laying down.

It took less than 16 hours for a bottle of WLW stored on its side to warp the cork and start leaking in the cabinet. I discovered it before it became a disaster, but I recommend going through whatever precautions you can to avoid allowing a whiskey above, say, 100 proof to have consistent contact with a cork.

I don't think it would be unreasonable to pour any bottles like this into a screw top bottle, at least for the journey.

[Old Lamplighter]

Lastly, if you have any George T Stagg - leave it here. I just found out a couple weeks ago it is illegal to put into check-in or ship via air due to the alcohol content being above 70%.

WTH...go ahead and take it with you. If they stop you, make a trade...they can use it for jet fuel.

[camduncan]

I know I'm getting in early.... but... Welcome to Australia!!

What part of the country are you moving or thinking of moving too?

The quote you found about 2.25 litres per person applies to holiday travel... not migrants taking up residence.

The following site has some good information:
http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/e...ing-emigrating

As does this:
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re..._factsheet.pdf
which also has the quote:

Duty free concessions that apply to alcohol and
tobacco products that you carry with you when you
arrive in Australia

do not apply to unaccompanied
goods. Alcohol and tobacco products (cigarettes,
cigars or other products containing tobacco) that
are imported with your UPEs will be subject to duty,

GST and/or Wine Equalisation Tax (WET).

That pretty much says to me that they're going to hit you hard for any alcohol you ship into the country..... and trust me, it isn't cheap.

To give you some idea, shipping a single 12 bottle case of $15-$20 bottles to Australia from Binnys works out costing $50-$60 per bottle (or more depending on shipping costs & alcohol volume per bottle) by the time shipping and tax are taken into account.

[camduncan]

.... and just found this one that might also help:

http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re...oFactSheet.pdf

[omnom]

Thank you for the ideas everyone. Putting them into some screw-top bottles is certainly an idea.

Camduncan, thank you I have actually lived in NSW all my life (I am a citizen by birth), but have been living in the US for the past few years. So I'm wondering if I can use the 2.25L thing?

I am in the process of reading those pdfs right now, thanks for digging those up for me!

[camduncan]

So you're heading back to NSW? Which part? There's several members on here from Brisbane, a couple in Perth, but I'm not sure about NSW based members.

Camduncan, thank you I have actually lived in NSW all my life (I am a citizen by birth), but have been living in the US for the past few years. So I'm wondering if I can use the 2.25L thing?

I'd imagine if you're flying home it won't be a problem. Personally I'd be packing as much bourbon into my checked in bags as the airlines weight limit would allow. You'll still pay tax on them when you arrive, but they won't add additional tax on the cost of shipping.

There's also a great site called Yanks Downunder:
www.yanksdownunder.net

It's aimed at US citizens relocating to Australia and might have some helpfull information on getting your posessions shipped back home.