Shipping Beer and Packing Tips

  • All beers must be sent in cans, bottles, or growlers. Each entry must have 3 bottles/cans/growlers/crowlers of 10 oz or greater
  • All beer must arrive between May 17 – May 31st to be judged.

Ship Beers to:
U.S. Open
C/O Dow Scoggins
4796 Somerville Rd
Oxford, OH 45056
Email: dow_scoggins@hotmail.com
Phone(334-444-3346)

Canadians May Ship to:
Niagara College Teaching Brewery
135 Taylor Road S.S. #4
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON L0S 1J0
Attn: Jon Downing
Phone: 905 641 2252 ext 4088 or 4099
Email: jdowning@niagaracollege.ca
Beers must arrive between May 17 – May 31st to be judged.

Information to be put on all beer cans and bottles(Please use clear packing tape to attach to bottle/can)

Brewery Name: ______________________________________
Beer Name:___________________________________________
Category Name: _______________________________________
Category Number: _____________________________________
Subcategory: _________________________________________
Additional Info:_________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Attach Label information on back of the bottle or can. Then, if your beer wins a medal, we can use the bottle or can in a photo. Use clear packing tape to attach labels to cans and bottles.  DO NOT USE RUBBER BANDS!

Do not use packing tape to secure bubble wrap around cans.
We have to unwrap thousands of bottles and cans. We use utility knives to cut through tape. Utility knives will slice right through the can. Below is an example of a can wrapped in packing tape. Do not send cans like this!

Tips for shipping beer

Use FedEx or UPS to ship samples
Do not ship through the United States Postal Service (USPS) – It is illegal to ship beer through the USPS. Always use FedEx or UPS.

Shipping FedEx
Shipping alcohol via FedEx requires approval. More information on how to obtain approval can be found on their website: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/alcohol.html.

International Breweries
The U.S. Open Beer Championships can not receive beers directly from breweries outside the United States.  International Breweries must use an importer or find other ways to get their beers into the U.S.A.  DHL also does not allow alcohol to be delivered to Ohio.   Please check with your international shipper to verify the shipper is allow to ship to Ohio.

Wine/Beer Boxes
On Amazon: Polar Tech 749T Top Load 12 Wine/Champagne Bottle Foam Shipper
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Tech-Champagne-Bottle-Shipper/dp/B009W80G8C
Or search Wine Shipper on Amazon

Spirited Shipper boxes comes in a variety of configurations:
http://spiritedshipper.com/

Uhaul Wine/Beer Shipping boxes
Safely ship wine or beer bottles with the Wine Shipping Kit. All kits come complete with a protective styrofoam base and lid and include the shipping box. The protective styrofoam base will fit wine or champagne bottles up to 4″ in diameter (standard and universal bottles). Kits are available to ship 1, 2, 3, or 6 wine bottles at one time.
http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Boxes/Kitchen-moving-boxes/Wine-Shipping-Kits?mid=169

Uline Packaging(Beer & Wine) Boxes
http://www.uline.com/Grp_237/Wine-Shippers-and-Supplies
http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20540/Wine-Shippers-and-Supplies/Beer-Shipper-12-Bottle-Pack

Helpful Hints
Prevent Breakage, Then Prevent Leakage – The key to successfully shipping beer is to get them to their final destination unbroken. That means packing them well and stuffing the box with lots of padding so the beers won’t shift around in the box. This is your first line of defense. But sometimes things go wrong, despite your best efforts, and a bottle might break. When that happens, you want to keep the spill contained and to stop it from leaking through the box. When a box starts to leak, it gets pulled out of shipping process. Often the box gets thrown away by the shipping company, despite the fact that the rest of the bottles in the box might be fine.

Tips on how to ship beer
Use a sturdy double-walled box, or put one box inside another.
Use plenty of filler material. Bubble wrap work best.
Make sure no glass is touching.
Make sure nothing moves when you shake the box.
Use styrofoam wine shippers for the best and easiest way to ship.
Tape
Write fragile on the box (though I’m not convinced this makes any difference whatsoever)
Write “liquid yeast samples” on the box (sort of true).
Try to package the beer so that the recipient can reuse the packing materials.
Line the box with bubble wrap or foam.
Ship beer via UPS or FedEx using an online account and print your shipping label at home. Don’t use USPS.