Bringing Alcohol in Hawaii?
 

I am planning my wedding in Hawaii in May 06 and I was wondering how much alcohol we can bring to Hawaii per person?
We have a lot of alcohol already and we would like to bring some as alcohol is even more expensive in Hawaii.
I searched the web but did not get a clear answer ( it is limited to 1 quart if we come from a Foreign country) as there is not information if there is a limit if you come from the mainland?
THank you

My assumption being that Hawaii is apart of the United States and that you're staying within the country, there is no limit on alchohol, um, "exportation" or, uh, "importation"... :confused:

You should consider a wedding in the USVI. The liquor is very cheap, flight time from ORD is half that to HNL, and the beaches are more pristine.

Actually, the cost of alcohol in Hawaii is reasonable. Even if there is a difference, it's not that much to make it worth having you lug it over on the plane. It is even cheaper when you buy it at Costco here.

My friend's brother works at Morton's in the D.C. area and was married here. He found that his favorite wines and champagne were cheaper here than at home! He bought bottles to bring home with him.

TF :cool:

Uhhh... Hawaiii is a state. There are no limitations on the amount of liquor you can bring across any state line that I'm aware of. It's certainly not a dry state.

IMO, you are limited on the amount of alcohol that you can import across state lines due the the State Alcohol tax laws. From the Illinois web page:

"Generally, individuals are not permitted to import more than one gallon of alcoholic beverages into Illinois. Illinois is a “Three-Tier” system in which all alcohol greater than one gallon passes first from importers or manufacturers to distributors and then to retailers before finally being offered for sale to consumers."

BTW, the three tier system is a result of the 21st Amendment which repealed prohibition. At the very least, you will need to obtain permission from Hawaii and pay the state alcohol tax.

Costco on Maui has the best prices for wine, liquor and champagne on the island.....................and a fine selection or them too. With the airlines limiting bags/boxes to 50 lb one cant bring in too many liters cheaply.

MisterNice

there is also a sam's club in Oahu, not sure if they have the liquor operation at that one or not. at the sam's I visit in minnesota, they have the usual suspects for decent champagne, moet white star and also dom, piper, etc...

Last I checked you don't pass through customs on the way into Hawaii. Just like you wouldn't think twice about bringing A truckload of alcohol from Indiana to Ohio you probably shouldn't think twice about bringing alcohol from the Mainland to Hawaii, unless you discover some very stringent laws that I am not aware of. I guess the shortened version of this is, who's going to enforce any alcohol law?

The only problem I could possibly forsee is an ag. restriction against bringing in alcohol. AFAIK, there isn't one--so one should be okay bringing it in, that is if the TSA don't booze up on it first.

The Sam's Club in Honolulu and out in Pearl City do carry alcohol. Of course, with slightly cheaper prices and brand variety at Costco, we've let our Sam's Club membership lapse in October.

Those cute dogs and their people at HNL baggage claim are so gosh darn adorable. I wish they had them at ORD. :td:

States are free to make their own laws on whether or not and how much alcohol individuals can carry across state lines. Some states allow none; some 1 gallon; some 6 gallons; and so on.

To the OP, the phone or email address on the site below would probably be a better place to start with your question (the laws are different for Honolulu than for other parts of Hawaii). But, alcohol is heavy and can easily break in transit (sounds like you'd be checking bags), and, as previously mentioned, is available for reasonable prices at Costcos in Hawaii. Depending on what you're bringing over, it can also get ruined in transit due to temperature changes. I don't know where you're drinking the alcohol, but if this is for a reception at a hotel there's a good chance they won't allow outside alcohol. Just something else you might want to check on. Best wishes. http://www.co.honolulu.hi.us/liq/index.htm

We usually pack a couple of bottles each in our carryon's for when we dine in room. In room menu's have the worst choices for wine. We also bring a couple of 1/2 bottles of dessert wine.

The only time we had a problem was at HNL when the security guy said we had too much with us. We looked at him like he had three heads. His mouth was watering just thinking about confiscating it from us. A supervisor confirmed that we were correct and let us go.

We had our first introduction to box wine while we were in Hawaii. We were talking to one of our friends that lives on Maui. We were talking about different wines when he mentioned that he had box wine the night before. We started laughing because we thought he was joking or making it up. We had never heard of box wine before. We went all the way down to safeway to see if it was for real. It was!