Legally, you can t bring more than 1 liter of alcohol even if you are over 21. Definitely do not declare anything on your Customs Declaration form. If you mention that you have a sandwich or some kind of food on you, they may send your luggage through x-ray machines. Then you re screwed.If you fly via Detroit they will search your luggage almost certainly. Same applies to smaller airports with lower number of international flights (e.g. Cincinnati). Customs officials there don t have much to do. In that case, I wouldn t risk it.I ve flown many, many times from EU to USA via major airports: JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington. I always carried 1-3 bottles of some alcohol. Nobody ever searched mu luggage. Maybe I just don t look suspicious. :)Don t declare anything on your customs declaration (maybe something symbolic like $50 worth of gifts). Just look confident. The worst thing that can happen to you is that they ll take your alcohol. After all, you are first time traveler you don t know what you re doing . :)Good luck, and enjoy your trip!
2 summers ago i made a trip to canada and europe. i bought a bottle of absinthe in prague to bring back to the states. i had a connection in vancouver canada which was the last leg of my trip. i was taken to a special room for random searching where they went through my bag 3 times, scanned my clothes for potential drug trafficking, and spent about 3 hours asking me questions about my travels. i had been traveling for 3 months so maybe they were a little suspious.i was 19 at the time. yet they did not ask me anything regarding the bottle of 70% alcohol i was bringing back to the states underage.so you should be fine if you have it in your suit case.