You Can Board A Plane With Bourbon In Your Checked Luggage, With One Exception

Perhaps you've just completed a tour of the entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail and picked up a few extra bottles of your favorite new whiskey along the way. Or perhaps you've finally tracked down that rare or allocated bottle of bourbon to add to your collection at a reasonable price while you're on a trip across the country and need to fly home with it.

In either case, you're probably wondering if you can board a plane with them carefully stashed in your checked-in luggage and fly with your newly acquired bottles of bourbon. The simple answer is (most likely) yes, though there are certain restrictions to be aware of — along with one important exception. If your bourbon is a high-proof bottle over 70% alcohol by volume (ABV), you cannot fly with it, as it's considered highly flammable and a hazardous material. In bourbon circles, these ultra-high-proof bottles are, not surprisingly, called "hazmat bottles."

Per Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations, airline passengers are only allowed to bring alcohol that is up to 70% ABV (or 140 proof) on a plane. If that bottle of alcohol is between 24% and 70% ABV, then there is also a limit of up to five liters total per person. Furthermore, those bottles "must be in unopened retail packagings." In practical terms, you can bring up to six standard 750 ml bottles of sub-140 proof bourbon onto the plane as long as they're still in their unopened, original packaging. However, you won't be able to stash them in your carry-on and will have to pack them in your checked-in luggage, carefully wrapped to prevent breakage.

Although this restriction won't apply to most bourbons, it does affect those hazmat bottles, which seem to be increasing in popularity. Examples of hazmat bottles that you wouldn't be able to bring on a plane include certain bottles of George T. Stagg that exceed the 140-proof mark, all bottles of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill (which range from 143.6 proof to 155.1 proof), Batch 6 of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (at 140.2 proof), and the recent Seelbach's barrel club release from Kings County Distillery (at 150.88 proof). If you do manage to get your hands on one of these hazmat bottles, you'll have to ship it instead or enjoy your bourbon where you found it.