In Reply to: buying alcohol in bali posted by rocha on Friday, 9. September 2005 at 12:12 Bali Time:
Since Indonesia imposes a 155% tax on all imported alcohol, it's just not worth buying.
Fortunately, there are domestically produced option: Cheap beer, gin, whiskey, vodka, rum... can't remember if there's a local bourbon. There's also arak, of course. Local stuff is around a quarter of the price of imported grog.
In some Indonesian cities there are dodgy Duty-Free stores that allow tourists/expats to buy cheap imported (probably smuggled) grog. I heard Bali's has closed, but one might have sprung up somewhere else.
If you're a trusting soul the best way to get extra grog and ciggies duty free is to chat to people in the departure lounge who aren't already carrying duty-free bags if they'd mind carrying some for you. Some people won't, but someone will.
I wouldn't try sneaking extra grog through, coz that could get messy and ruin your holiday before it starts. If you declare the extra, you'll have to pay the duty, which brings the price up to what you'd have paid anyway.
I wouldn't be planning to get involved in any bribery schemes, either, unless you have a deep understanding of Indonesian culture. There are many subtelties involved and if you go about it the wrong way you could end up facing a huge fine or a jail term, which will then involve a much bigger bribe. It's just not worth the hassle when there are so many cheap options.
I did get away with an extra 1/4-1/3 of a litre at Jakarta airport. I still had some vodka left over in one bottle, and bought another litre at KL airport. The two bottles showed up in the x-ray, and I was prepared to just hand over the extra grog, but the customs officer just wagged his finger and said, "Next time, just one bottle, okay?" So I didn't get to find out first-hand what goes on in the little rooms with customs officials. Anyway, I could have just put the extra vodka in a water bottle if I was really keen.
And, really, $30 a litre seems pretty cheap already. I've seen Jim Beam at 300,000Rp for only 750ml. Duty-Free, it's not much under $20 a litre.