Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 January 9

= January 9 =

Shipping a bottle of Whiskey from the UK to the US.
I'm trying to find a way to get a bottle of Whiskey to a friend in the US. It seems to be harder than I anticipated. I am not an exporter, and my friend is not an importer. He is happy to pay import tax, but I can't find any information that helps.

I have read on some forums that you simply label the package incorrectly and ship with one of the main companies, but I need to insure this bottle as it is quite expensive, and don't want to play lottery with the chances of the bottle arriving as planned.

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.

Zzubnik (talk) 00:36, 9 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Legally, you can't do it. Illegally, you probably can - but we shouldn't be giving that sort of advice here. Wymspen (talk) 12:37, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
 * According to this "Shipping alcoholic beverages through a courier is permitted, however, duty will be collected on the entire shipment (there is no duty exemption for alcohol not accompanying a traveler), and the courier will probably charge handling and Customs Broker fees that could significantly raise the cost of the shipment." So it would have to be a very good whisky [sic] to be worth the trouble and expense.. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:06, 9 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Don't they make a very good whiskey in Northern Ireland?  D b f i r s   13:49, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Sadly, no. And I say that as a Certified Irish Whiskey Taster. Most of our tasting group picked Johnnie Walker Red Label over all 4 Irish Whiskeys, and those over the Bourbon (they might have picked Jim Beam as an easy target). Most Irish Whiskey is inoffensive but lacks character. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:18, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I wasn't expecting an answer at all to my rhetorical question, but it's good to have an expert viewpoint from a connoisseur.  As you might guess, I'm not.    D b f i r s   14:53, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Is it really fair to judge e.g. Irish, Scotch, Canadian and Bourbon on the same grounds? I can appreciate all of those for their own character, but even the best Scotch is going to fail miserably at being Bourbon, and vice versa. To me, pitting Bourbon directly against Irish and Scotch is like judging a terrier against a shepherd and a hound. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:11, 9 January 2017 (UTC)


 * You can't both label it as BBQ sauce to evade the post restrictions and insure it for the replacement value of good whiskey. We do have retail access to many good UK whiskeys here in the states, it may be easier to get your friend a gift certificate to a good local spirits seller. That won't work if you're talking about a special bottle you aged yourself, but it should work for most things that you could have bought at a nice UK shop recently. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:09, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Agreed with SemanticMantis. This is considerably a more preferable method than attempting to smuggle whiskey through customs.-WaltCip (talk) 19:05, 9 January 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice everybody. I have no intention of smuggling the whiskey, hence asking the question here. It needs to be done properly and insured, as it is a very expensive bottle of whiskey. Zzubnik (talk) 03:24, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Have you asked the place where you're buying it whether they have a way to legally ship to the US? --69.159.60.210 (talk) 08:33, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * If it's spelt that way on the label, are you sure that it's actually worth what you paid for it?   D b f i r s   21:55, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * If the whisky is extraordinarily expensive, it might be an option to just fly there in person to hand it over. Or find a student who is going anyways. Apparently, the most expensive Whisky is US$ 628000 per bottle, and the tenth most expensive one is still $10000 (, although sources vary). A return ticket in coach from Europe to the US is a few 100 US$, not too much by comparison. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 22:47, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * That cheap huh? I should go there sometime. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 02:34, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Book today for February 28th from Heathrow to Newark (and back) with KLM for EUR 382 (via Amsterdam - funnily enough, the flight from just Amsterdam is more expensive). . --Stephan Schulz (talk) 07:47, 12 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Is the whiskey already exported to the U.S.? If it is, you may find a supplier in the U.S. and just order it and have it shipped within the U.S.  -- Jayron 32 02:12, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm not connected with this site other than as a happy customer, but a well-organised site like is in the business of making this sort of process easy for their customers. "If we are shipping to an address in the US, customs charges will be calculated and added to your order at the time of checkout so that can we complete the customs clearance procedure as soon as it arrives in the US. Your order will not be subject to any further customs charges. " I've never shipped to the USA, but if they take as much care with the paperwork as they do with the packaging, then I'd trust their judgement. Andy Dingley (talk) 15:03, 12 January 2017 (UTC)