Wikipedia says it is complicated for Louisiana:
- 1987 - raised to 21 de jure (but de facto was still 18, given sale loophole)
- 1995 - loophole eliminated; 21 enforced
- 1996 - briefly lowered to 18; then Supreme Court reversed its decision three months later, back to 21
- but some exceptions remain


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._hi...e_age_by_state

(seems to be citing NYT articles from that era)

I need coffee, it didn't even dawn on my to check wiki.

I know the loophole must have been late in 1995 because I had several conferences there as a wee undergrad under 21 and Louisana was choosen just so we could drink legally. It was complicated though, no package stores sales but bars were good, hotels were partially ok but not mini-bars. It was a bit different.

Oh Louisiana...

I remember our first visit to New Orleans. We arrived very late, the hotel restaurant was already closed, so we went to the corner store to buy some food/drink. While looking around we saw with big surprise a small (6-7 yr old) kid buying beer. The store owner seeing our surprise explained us, that according the Napoleonic Code (!!!) if a kid old enough to ask for alcohol, he is old enough to drink it.

:D

Very handy when driving back from Canada.

With how much we drink down in PR, I'm quite certain that the tax revenue from alcohol sales outweigh the additional 10% in federal highway funding we'd get.

Not at all. But quite useful to know when coming back on a boat from the British Virgin Islands with my 19 year old nephew.

Update: Brought one case of wine into DFW from South America. Declared it through Global Entry kiosk. Upon leaving (when I expected to be referred to the "extra taxes" window) the guy asked how much we had. I said "12 bottles between the two of us" and he said "Oh - That's OK," and waved us through. ^

I came through PHL with 20-odd bottles (I paid $30 at most for all) and they pretty much told me the same thing. I was just told to go.

> What modern airliner has unpressurized holds? My guess is none.

Your guess is wrong. Several, actually. Thousands of airframes still flying.

OTOH, not all holds are heated

> Correct.

but most likely it wouldn't get cold enough for long enough to freeze beer.

Incorrect. Temps at cruise at -28F to -40F. It does not take long free beer
at those temps.

Can you give examples of aircraft and airlines that are flying these planes?

Since it is now standard in many countries to check liquids greater than 100 mL, I would think we'd hear more problems if everyone's liquids froze and/or leaked due to extreme temperature and pressure changes. They certainly couldn't check pets as cargo on those airplanes, could they?

If are referring to DC-3s and their contemporaries, that hardly qualifies ad "modern airliner". And of course, not only are the holds unpressurized, the pax compartment is too, so no concerns about 40,000 feet pressure altitude.

True, if the liquids got to that temperature. I've never opened luggage and found any liquids frozen.

Managed to bring some beer to the US from MUC >> FRA >> IAH . Used bubble wrap around each bottle to stop the shaking and then foam and cardboard and tape around the top. Lufthansa didn't have any issues with it. I did declare it as 10 litres of beer on the customs form, but they didn't even look at it.
http://i.imgur.com/s5XwS.jpg

What would the folks in Cologne think... :D ^^^

I do this all the time. It's the only way I have to bring quality U.S. microbrew beer into Germany.

I don't usually go that far. I've been able to fit two bubble wrapped six packs and 8 days worth of clothes into a slightly larger than average rollerboard.

But when I do require additional materials, I tend to bring them with me from home. One folded up box, 1-2 rolls of bubble wrap, a box of giant zip-loc bags, and a roll of packing tape don't take a lot of room in my bag. I even do this flying domestically to the mainland US, because the craft beer selection is usually amazing compared to what we have available here.

The most I've managed to bring back this way is a single case, split between a checked rollerboard, and a box full of beer. Every bottle survived.

The most I have fit into a single rollerboard was 18 beers. The bag weighed in at 23.4 kg all all beers survived.