Packing Bottles of Gin in Checked Luggage
 

My cousin wants me to bring 3 bottles of a California gin to Delaware on our next trip out. Apparently she can't buy this gin there, but it is sold everywhere here in California.

I know there are wineskins and other protectors for carrying wine bottles.

Is there something similar for spirits?

And, yes, I've checked the airline restrictions on the subject and this is in compliance.

Amazon sells a 3 pack of bottle protectors that would work. They are 3 for $30 but reuseable.

http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Padde.../dp/B004FLK2IU

What I do when traveling w/ liquor or wine in my checked in luggage is to securely wrap the bottles in bubble wrap and seal well w/ duck tape or similar product. Some people use socks to wrap and you could do this after the bubble wrap. I have not had any problems w/ leakage doing the bubble wrap idea.

Have you thought about shipping the gin directly to Delaware and you wouldn't have to worry about taking in suitcase or breakage. Might be worth doing this.

Shipping liquor state-to-state is, I believe, illegal. UPS Stores often look the other way, because it's kind of ridiculous that you can't ship a few bottles to your sister, but there it is.

I have transported red wine and salsa in my checked suitcase many times without trouble. Instead of buying something, just wrap the bottles in the padding of your choice and put them in a couple of Ziploc bags--same effect, but cheaper. And be glad that if gin spills, your stuff won't be ruined!

Tube socks, I have wine bottle insulated bags that I use. Just do the gallon zip lock and expect TSA to search your bag because large bottles alarm their xray machines in baggage. They didn't re-wrap a bottle of mine and what a mess in my suitcase. I could smell it before I saw it on the baggage belt.

To avoid alarming the good folks of the TSA, you might place the bottles in ziplocs and then wrap them in some clothing (or whatever), rather than the other way around. It does seem as though bubble wrap and duct tape, while not illegal, would raise flags.

I have always just used plastic bags or ziplock bags secured around the bottle, then rolled up in clothing to carry something like that in checked luggage. That said, I've never had more than 1 bottle in a suitcase.

Thanks, you are all terrific!

Yes, can't ship the gin. I've transported breakables before, including oils and vinegars . . . all came out just fine rolled up in clothing, sealed in ziplocks or bubble wrap.

I was thinking with fair size bottles of gin, I really don't want to go the clothes wrapped around the booze route, especially since I'll be attending a wedding and will have clothes that I don't want to start off with smelling like booze, even though they might after attending the reception. :)

Then I'd go bubble wrap.

I routinely travel internationally with checked bottles of beer, wine, liquor, etc. and I have never had a broken bottle (5+ trips a year, 10-50 bottles a year).

If you have a suitcase full of clothes (i.e., nothing really "hard"), wrap each bottle in a pair of pants and locate them in the bottom half center of the suitcase.

If you have a small-ish box (think Amazon box) that a bottle or two will fit in, wrap the bottles in clothing and put into the box.

Bubble wrap is ok but it takes up space and really doesn't protect an better than clothing.

If you are paranoid, I have used these in the past (in fact, I used these last week to bring back two bottles of mead from the U.S. to Germany) with some success but personally I don't think they perform any better than a pair of jeans wrapped around the bottle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...US4ATE5XJIDPV3 Those skins can fit most 750ml-1L bottles.

If your bottle is oddly shaped and you want to give it a suit of cardboard armor, duct tape can help with that.

As far as legalities go, the TSA does not care about the alcohol that is in your checked bag. They might give it a swab with their explosives detector but that's about it (source: a friend who is a TSA agent). The USPS doesn't like you shipping alcohol so don't that (that being said, I do it all the time and have never been "caught"). UPS and FedEx have more relaxed rules regarding the shipping of alcohol but some states don't want you shipping it so don't do that either (that being said, I have ignored this in the past and the package has always arrived intact).

I ended up getting wineskins since it actually fits the bottles of gin. They seem a little flimsy, to be honest, so I'm tending to agree with sparkchaser.

If I had a hard suitcase, I might feel a little better about all this, but as you all say, packing breakables in the middle of a suitcase of clothing will probably do the trick.