Beer Suitcase

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. This is exactly how the Beer Suitcase came into being. Now some will argue that the need for beer is not a real necessity, and that the Beer Suitcase in not really an invention, but I will show that this is a perfect example of how ingenuity was inspired by my life's specific requirements.

Some people need a car. For the most part, I have learned to make do with public transit after someone rear ended me and totalled my car. Some people have a need to make a lot of money. I have never been inspired by money, rather, I have learned how to make my modest earnings work for me. I do however get great enjoyment from good food and good drink with friends. My appreciation for well made, thoughtful, handcrafted things gives me pleasure. Time spent working earns me the few nice things that I choose to spend my paycheque on. I do not buy souvenirs or trinkets when I travel. I do not spend a lot of time in malls & boutiques buying piles of clothes. The thing I buy when I travel is usually new & interesting beer (the variety of which I cannot get in Toronto) and very little else.

In the last few years, I've travelled as often as time and money allowed. This is why the Beer Suitcase became a kind of necessity for me. Since security and air travel regulations have become increasingly strict, we are, among many other things, not allowed to bring more than 100 ml. of liquid in our carry-on luggage. Now having to check all my precious beer requires special packing. (It was so much easier when I could take a box with me on the plane as my carry-on luggage.) With Beer Guide taking the lead, the Beer Suitcase was devised.

The task was figuring out how to pack a number of glass bottles in a regular suitcase in a way that would protect them from tough handling with light-weight, sturdy packing materials. Keeping in mind that most airlines allow 50 lbs. per piece of checked luggage, an oversized suitcase would just be too heavy when it was fully packed with bottles, so a small case with a pull out handle with wheels was choosen. Beer Guide got a typical 650 ml. and 331 ml. bottle to accurately estimate the total weight once the case was packed.

After some debate, this is what resulted:

Cardboard tubing 0.4 cm thick was cut into lengths of just longer than a 650ml bottle. Ten tubes were cut and could be placed width wise in the suitcase in 2 layers. Also included were packing foam & bubble wrap to make the interior as tightly packed as possible. Eliminating rattle inside a suitcase will almost ensure no breakage. A roll of packing tape and a pair of small sissors were also brought on the trip, just in case.

This worked perfectly when tested on it's maiden voyage. Not only was packing the beer easy & quick, all 17 bottles made it home without a single loss. Success was sweet...may Beer Suitcase have many, many more voyages to come. Amen.