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charliebrown84
Joined: 29 Jul 2009
Location: Daegu, South Korea
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 Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: Declaring alcohol at customs? |
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I am going home in a week and was thinking of getting my father some Korean alcohol (soju, makgeoli, etc.) and I was wondering if anyone knew if it were possible to take it with me on the plane, or if I would have to mail it home. If anyone has any information on the logistics, please let me know.
Thanks!  |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| You can take it on the plane (checked or buy it at duty free). There will be a limit to how much you can bring based on whatever your home country is. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:18 am Post subject: |
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Technically you're not supposed to mail alcohol (or other liquids) but lots of people do it. The worst that happens (and rarely at that) is that it gets confiscated.
As already mentioned, you CAN take some alcohol with you in your checked luggage (not carry on) but it's not much. They might allow you a couple bottles of soju. If you bring in too much, you either pay the duty on it, or it gets confiscated (if the customs guys find it). |
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NSMatt
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Location: London
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| Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:35 am Post subject: |
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As a former customs officer I can assure you that bringing alcohol in your checked luggage is fine. Remember to double bag it, I've seen more than my fair share of exploded wine bottles in suitcases!
If you are Canadian you may bring 1.14 litres of hard alcohol, or 1.5 litres of wine, or 24 cans of beer duty and tax free.
In the US you are limited to 1 litre of alcohol tax free, I assume this is 1 litre of any kind.
As long as you declare the alcohol you can bring as much as you want for personal use. You will have to pay taxes/duties for anything over the quantities listed above but they will be minimal because they are based on the retail value of the product. |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:47 am Post subject: |
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| Also be careful with stopovers. I was going to buy some Soju as a gift for some friends backhome but since I had a stop over in Japan I was told they could not sell to me. If they had my booze would have been confiscated. This is for carry-on - not for stuff in checked in. This was a security rule not a customs rule. |
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Crockpot2001
Joined: 01 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: |
| Also be careful with stopovers. I was going to buy some Soju as a gift for some friends backhome but since I had a stop over in Japan I was told they could not sell to me. If they had my booze would have been confiscated. This is for carry-on - not for stuff in checked in. This was a security rule not a customs rule. |
Rogue brewing in Portland has a bar in the passenger terminal of PDX. You are allowed to take 3 bottles with you ON THE PLANE! However, I had a stopover in Narita and they happily took all three bottles.
Also, some premium bottle fremented beers now come in 750 ml bottles with corks. It can take a lot of explaining to the customs people that this is NOT wine, especially if it says "Barley WINE" on the label. The tax rates are vastly different between grape based wine and beer. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Do the limits really depend on whether it's grape or barley? I thought they set those limits based on the alcohol content (e.g. 5% vs 10%). For example, technically saki is a beer (a fermented grain alcohol), not a wine (a fermented fruit alcohol). How is sake (or makoli) classified? |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:27 am Post subject: |
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| Troglodyte wrote: |
| Do the limits really depend on whether it's grape or barley? I thought they set those limits based on the alcohol content (e.g. 5% vs 10%). For example, technically saki is a beer (a fermented grain alcohol), not a wine (a fermented fruit alcohol). How is sake (or makoli) classified? |
My understanding is that it's always done per alcohol content. Coming into Korea, however, this can be a bit iffy, as the customs officers are so used to drinking soju that they get a bit confused about other types of alcohol. I was bringing in a couple bottles of Chivas for my friend and he was willing to pay the duty, so I happily declared the items, only to have the customs official at Incheon inform me that I didn't owe anything as I was bringing in two bottles of wine. |
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