jakeg104

Hi folks, thought i'd post this request- We recently were in Japan (we, as in my wife and myself) and absolutely fell in love with the Dassai sake. They have a store in Tokyo (highly recommended if you are a sake lover!) that has their premium selections. We were fortunate enough to be able to try a wide selection of their sake there and were able to purchase some of their exclusive bottles not available in the US, although one of our favorites from that brewery is the Dassai 23.

Interestingly, the exact same (supposedly exclusive) bottle of Dassai 23 was available at the Narita Airport Duty Free shop called FaSoLa in Terminal 1! The store is right outside Passport Control for departure passengers (location (2) on this map of their stores), which is on the way to the departure gates for the UA flights to Houston (typically leave from no:3 satellite area).

Obviously we loaded up on them but alas are now running low on this heavenly elixir. Unfortunately very few sake places in the US have this particular bottle available, and if they do, shipping to Texas is tough because of the heat

So, question/favor/request would be, would anyone returning in the next few days/weeks/months be up for buying me a bottle of the Dassai 23 from this DF store? Obviously i'll be happy to pay you up front as well as pay a small 'carrier fee' (self coined, don't judge) and meet you at IAH arrivals to claim my prized possession

Feel free to PM/email me!
Thanks in advance!
Jake

kirkwoodj

I'm not going until next year, but will check up then!

mduell

What are the customs implications for the carrier, for the commercial import of sake?

mahasamatman

And does FlyerTalk have any liability for acting as a liquor marketplace?

sbm12

There is nothing commercial about my choosing to gift a friend a couple bottles of his preferred sake. Nor is there anything commercial about him thanking me in some reasonable manner.

Though definitely declare what it is that you import. No need to tempt fate on that.

mahasamatman

Which in no way even remotely resembles what's going on here.

jakeg104

Awesome, thanks!

jakeg104

How does someone getting a bottle of sake from DF for personal consumption fall under 'commercial import of sake'?? Are you traveling back from NRT soon? If not, please stop polluting this thread.

All i ask is if someone is willing to grab a bottle of sake from DF (totally legal the last time I checked)

Thanks Seth .


Lastly, Mods, if this violates some FT policy, let me know and feel free to delete this thread...

krazykanuck

I'll be flying that route in January, so I may be able to help out. I typically don't bring back liquor from trips.

bajrbajr

Can't you just buy it a liqueur store?

jakeg104

That would be awesome, thank you!
Unfortunately we've only found one distributor in NY who carries it occasionally and won't ship to Texas because of the fact that Texas heat ends up damaging the sake.. I also recently heard that there is a store in SF that will bring this in at times, but again, won't ship. Whenever we go east, we almost always will stop and grab a few bottles from these stores if they have them in stock...

Baze

OP

Are these very small bottles? Asking for a few from 1 person would go over their allowed customs limit of 1 liter per person. If they bring more they may have to pay a duty on the excess amount. You should post if willing to reimburse this also.

You can order it from here:

http://www.sakayanyc.com/shop_all.php?prod_id=11

Texas is in their list

jakeg104

Good point on the amount limit, the bottles are 720ml, so it would be a (1) bottle, i stand corrected and will adjust the original and follow up posts to reflect.

Yup, my wife actually visited the store in NYC, $106 is actually twice the price of the bottle from DF (was $50 the last time we bought from NRT DF)
Thanks for the link!!

l etoile

Since this does not involve flying United or the MileagePlus program, I'm going to move it to the Community forum.

l'etoile
UA moderator

mduell

Cost+fee for service is now a gift?

The person importing it isn't personally consuming it. They're contracting in advance for a cost+fee service.