Ask Away: Does Customs view sake as a wine or a spirit? - New Zealand Herald

Eli Orzessek solutions your alcohol-connected questions in instruction for the silly season.

i'm planning on going to Tokyo and wish to grasp if i will be able to deliver domestic some sake beneath my responsibility-free allowance. Are bottles of sake counted as wine or spirits?C Taylor

it truly is an enchanting query. whereas sake is a rice wine, the style it be made with the aid of fermentation capacity it be basically closer to a beer.

taste-wise, or not it's definitely closer to wine than beer, with an identical alcohol content of about 15 to 17 per cent. you'd also be forgiven for classing it as a spirit, on the grounds that you drink such small cups of it — however it's now not distilled and even remotely close to gin or vodka.

I requested our friends at Customs to shed some gentle on this, and i've been instructed it's classified as a wine. in order that capability which you can carry 4.5 litres of the best sake again with you. And when you are at it, fill your three-bottles-of-spirits allowance with some of Japan's countrywide spirit, shochu , or a nice jap single-malt whisky.

A 12 months of Ask Away

I've loved answering your questions this year and seem ahead to tackling extra of them in 2017. looking back on the very first question I answered, it looks now we have begun and ended the yr on a boozy note. Have an excellent Christmas and New 12 months each person — and be careful if you plan to drink and fly!

Does alcohol affect you extra on a aircraft or is it an urban myth? or not it's a common warning, but it surely seems it can be an historical other halves' story. A 1995 Austrian study discovered no precise difference in blood alcohol stages between those consuming at sea stage and people at 10,000 ft.

although, altitude disorder could be the actual offender. it may possibly affect anyone and indicators encompass vomiting, fatigue, dizziness and drowsiness — which all sound very normal to any person who's ever been somewhat inebriated.

Many passengers also take medicine for an xiety while flying, most often a benzodiazepine. it's value remembering that if you are consuming within the air, these effortless little capsules can intensify the outcomes of alcohol and lead to blackouts.

Aussie batsman David Boon as soon as recorded a dazzling half-century by using ingesting 52 cans of beer right through Australia's aircraft go back and forth to England for the 1989 Ashes. interestingly he was able to walk off the airplane and attend a feature hosted through a beer company later that night.

Tweet us @NZHTravel or use the hashtag #NZHAskAway email your questions to askaway@nzherald.co.nz

- NZ Herald