Where to buy American Whiskey

FYI. Even if you bought them at SFO you would likely have to check them at one of your connecting airports. Hopefully James E will know of a shop in Budapest.

Edit. I stand corrected. See discussion about STEB below

Are you checking bags? If so, wrap them in a bottle wrap and then bubble wrap. What a cool idea to bring some American Whiskey to your cousins.

I don't think you'll find a great assortment at the SFO duty free store. ( I don't think it is that great of a place to shop-it's a shadow of what you find in a European airport-- I think it's a joke. I like to shop and the airport stores at SFO are not that great at all). I'd go to Safeway or BevMo, get some good whiskey or bourbon that you would never find at a duty free. Wrap it up, check it, and enjoy some great booze with the cousin's.

Where are your connections? That might tell us whether your plan is possible.

If your carry-on is full, how are you going to schlep 3 bottles of whiskey around from the Budapest airport to the hotel in Ljubljana? I'd be a bit leery of carrying the duty-free bag/box around so take a taxi to your hotel in Budapest. Whether you bring from duty-free or buy before Ljubljana, you'll have to have for some kind of luggage to transport the whiskey on your travels.

If you want to keep costs down and life simple, buy at Costco or BevMo and check a bag.

As far as I am aware, you can only carry duty free bottles on your last flight, not onto three flights. I have seen bottles confiscated on connecting flights.

Are you sure that your relatives drink whiskey? None of my household would touch it. I was given a bottle years ago and ended up using it to cook with, which seemed a waste.

"As far as I am aware, you can only carry duty free bottles on your last flight"

For quite sometime now, duty free out of Frankfurt Airport destined for North America, seals the bottles in a plastic pouch and as long as you don't break the seal you're good to go with however many connecting flights you need to reach your destination. I haven't bothered with duty free booze lately, but that was my experience.

but this is going the other way

"but this is going the other way"

As far as I know this is universal when duty free is purchased airside and it is sealed in secure tamper-evident bags (STEB). The larger question is, do you want to shlep 3 bottles of booze from home to your final destination - the answer for me is NO.

I'm sure someone will chime in with the definitive customs regulations.

But, instead of carrying three bottles onto three flights, does anyone
have a suggestion for where I might be able to purchase in Budapest,
Zagreb or Ljubljana?

Funny how no one answered the question.

GoodSpirit Whisky & Cocktail Bar (its also a whiskey store) Budapest, Veres Pálné u. 7, 1053 Hungary. https://goodspiritbar.hu/en/

As far as I know this is universal when duty free is purchased airside
and it is sealed in secure tamper-evident bags (STEB). The larger
question is, do you want to shlep 3 bottles of booze from home to your
final destination - the answer for me is NO. I'm sure someone will
chime in with the definitive customs regulations.

As far as I know that is correct, those bags are an industry standard. Not sure how large the bottles are though, but I suspect that three bottle will be over the duty free allowance when entering the EU.

Duty free allowance into the EU from non-EU, per the official site:

Alcoholic drinks You can bring in:

4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer You can also bring:

a total of 1 litre of spirits over 22 % vol. or 1 litre of undenatured
alcohol (ethyl alcohol) of 80% vol. (or over) or 2 litres of fortified
or sparkling wine

Each of these amounts represents 100% of the total
of this last allowance which you can split. For example, you can bring
a half a litre of spirits and 1 litre of fortified wine - both
represent half of this allowance.

So with 3 x 750ml bottles of spirit you'll be three times (nearly) over the limit so it will be a trip through the Red Door.

Thank you all for your advice.

My original thought was that I would purchase 2 bottles of 500-ml American Whisky, and my traveling companion would buy 1 bottle for me and carry it. This size would easily fit in our backpacks.

We fly SFO-Frankfurt with a 2 hour connection time where we will go through customs and immigration. Then Frankfurt-Vienna, with a 1 hour connection time for final flight Vienna-Budapest. Because of the connections, I prefer not to check my carryon bag. But, I will have space (and bubble wrap)in that bag for the bottles for the trip from Budapest on.

Now, I’m rethinking my plan, so I’ve added a visit to Good Spirit Bar in Budapest.

If you have time, maybe they'll have it in the Frankfurt duty-free.

"Funny how no one answered the question."

Nothing funny at all, you were already acknowledged in the 1st response to the thread.

The rest of us were covering off the purchase and transport from SFO, which the OP indicated and followed up on as his first choice.

Nigel its a great bar in 5th district, but away from the tourists. I was there a few days ago. Not sure about prices compared to the other options, but you can look at their WebStore listed on their site. But also note they are closing for a week or two, the dates are on their website.

If you carry 2 bottles in your carryon and they carry one how are you dealing with 3-1-1? Even after duty free there will be the security checks in the other airports? Just wondering....

Because the purchase and STEBS packaging occur after security, there wouldn't be an issue and should't be an issue if you stay airside for the entire trip i.e. if I fly YYZ to VRN via MUC - I am airside the entire trip.

As to how much duty-free alcohol you can bring into your final destination - well that you would have to determine before flying.

Choose a category: bourbon, Tennessee (for Jack). Those are the only 2 I looked at, but there are others.
Then, there's a drop-down menu that shows all the brands.

Per the current mid-market exchange rate: Jim Beam, 1 liter $25, 1/2 liter $15, Black Label 0.7 liter $22

That's probably cheaper than SFO duty-free.

now I'm thirsty :-)

"That's probably cheaper than SFO duty-free"

Maybe, maybe not - SF storefronts are selling Jim Beam @ $25 - $26 per litre so one would expect a better price at an SFO duty-free.

Nancy, a country's "duty free allowance" just means how much you can bring in without paying additional duty (fees). It doesnt mean you cant bring in more, you just have to declare it at customs and be ready to pay what's usually a nominal fee. No big deal.

Since Nancy mentioned 3 half-liter bottles, I figured she wanted 3 bottles, probably to give to 3 different people.

I connected in Orlando a couple of years ago having bought some duty free at the previous airport and despite it being in a sealed duty free bag I was made to dispose of it by the TSA agent. Pointless exercise debating with them so in the bin it went so don't take it for granted that because it's in a sealed duty free bag that you'll be permitted to take it through security on a connecting flight.