What beer are we drinking this week? Episode 3

One of four things will happen:

• Courier will refuse to deliver if they don't allow liquids
• Customs will seize and destroy it
• Customs will charge you duty and the courier will charge you a nice admin fee on top
• Customs don't spot it and it gets through with no duty.

Who knows.

Can't believe that anybody would go to the trouble and expense of shipping two dozen beer bottles from Greece though... big savings to be made on spirits and some wines alright, but it's illegal and you always run the risk of getting nothing for your money.

Theoretically there is a fifth possibility:

• They seize it and then prosecute you under the Finance Act 😈

Plenty of online sellers have said that, but it turned out to be porkies. Strange if true. Still doesn't explain how it's worth anyone's while to ship two dozen beer bottles from Greece to Ireland if paying Irish duty and VAT.

Contract brewed by the Porterhouse - wonder is it a unique recipe or a Porterhouse product rebadge.

Isn't a brewery, yet if ever. Some real breweries start as contract brands

I thought Brennans, like Sullivans, was contract brewed in Dundalk? I have no issue with contract brewing, but those two kind of push it with their marketing (Sullivans having a "taproom" in Kilkenny).

A couple of new Stouts over the weekend - well one new, one new to me. Thought the Wicklow Wolf x Nobo was really nice almost dessert stout like for a relatively low abv (6.5%). I don't know how I'd gone this long without have Stag Stout, but it's a belter for me anyway.

Also had Brú Fire Starter - Brown Ale. Smoked Malt. What's not to like? Absolutely nothing not to like! Hopefully all this stuff survives this merger, unlike my favourite Carrig beer Coalface...

There is absolutely nothing hyperbolic or factless here

Countless, major, online alcohol retailers from outside Ireland have either believed they were OK not paying duty or pretended to pay Irish duty, been caught, and have stopped. Master of Malt were the most prominent in the "all duty is paid" but actually not camp. That's fact.

Not one retailer outside Ireland is currently registered on the public register of licenced alcohol retailers in Ireland. That's fact.

People frequently get deliveries from duty unpaid retailers because they don't get noticed by customs. Using the word "snuck" there is not hyperbole.

You getting your delivery today does not automatically mean that duty was paid and is of absolutely no value in telling someone else that they'll get a delivery from that retailer.

Cans say Porterhouse, or at least the pictures on their own site/socials do.

Sullivans actually have a brewery licence in Kilkenny now - but I've no idea what they do there. Having a brewery and still getting your big sellers made contract elsewhere is not uncommon, Dead Centre are/were doing it and I've even been in a brewery in Portugal who did it - small batch made in the basement of the bar, the mainstream products contract

There's a lot of attention on the whiskey scene to spurious origins in product names; maybe that should also be focused on contract brands where a location is mentioned in or alongside the name!

Look, over the last decade of so, this kind of thing has come up again and again - with, ultimately, the same results. People who believe that they are going through legit channels (often because the channels have falsely claimed to be legit), invariably, get rather angry when it is pointed out that they are actually, illegally, importing alcohol and said alcohol is at risk of seizure or charges.

No one doubts that you have ordered in good faith.

No one questions the fact that many illegal shipments get through.

No one doubts that many, many overseas suppliers either think they are compliant or lie about the fact that they are.

To date, no overseas retailer has ever been compliant. I also find it implausible that this Greek company is registered with Revenue.ie. Your "real world experience" does absolutely nothing to change my assertion. If your parcel get's through to you without seizure or charges - that proves nothing other than the fact that many illegal parcels get through the system.

I'm not sure why you are bringing DHL into it - they really couldn't give a toss as long as they get paid to deliver.

That's a delivery label. It doesn't prove anything other than you got a delivery.

A DHL person talking about duty likely thinks you mean export duty (which they definitely are able to handle), not excise duty.

You could show us the actual sales invoice for one thing.