A Stein Is Born

The New Economics of Beer Stein Manufacturing

The beer stein manufacturing industry in Germany has for some time been in the throes of a major shake-out. Serious low-price competition from places like Brazil and China, combined with a shrinking market for traditional German steins has put enormous pressure on German manufacturers to adjust or fall by the wayside. A number of venerable companies, as many stein collectors know, have already done the latter. Among those that remain, most have stayed ahead of the game by finding and exploiting new markets (particularly in the United States) and, more often than not, have gained access to those markets by producing licensed steins under contract to others.

Figure 1

A company that has been instrumental in the development of this new way of doing business is Tradex GmbH, with offices in both Germany and the U.S. Among the steins for which Tradex has been responsible in the last several years are the Corona^® characters (see “The Corona Characters: Steins With a Pedigree”), Saturday Evening Post^® Christmas steins, the Budweiser^® Frog and Bud Light^® Penguin, and Winchester^® rifle steins.

Since licenced (i.e., product promotion) steins have recently begun to dominate the U.S. stein market, I thought collectors might find it both interesting and enlightening to follow the development of a licensed Tradex stein from conception through distribution. While the Tradex approach is far from the only way that a new stein gets to market in the United States, it’s one that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the industry.

Our working model for following the development process is the second in a series of hand-painted, deep-relief Winchester hunting steins. The stein, decorated with a scene depicting a duck hunt, is being built by German steinmaker S.P. Gerz GmbH and marketed by Anheuser-Busch as one of its Gerz Meisterwerke editions (GM24). The first in the Winchester hunting series (“Pheasant Hunt,” GM20, Figure 1) was released last year and is already well on its way to selling out its limited edition of 3,500. “Duck Hunt,” is also being produced in an edition of 3,500 and will likely be followed by a third stein which will complete the series.

Like all the steins with which Tradex is involved, the Winchester hunting steins are being developed and distributed under an exclusive license granted by the trademark owner (i.e., Olin Corporation).

From Concept to Finished Product

About four years ago, after negotiating a license to use the Winchester trademark, Tradex next opened discussions with Anheuser-Busch regarding a new stein series. As part of their overall relationship with Tradex, A-B has a right of first refusal with respect to all licensed Tradex products. In this case, A-B exercised its option and the process of developing the series was underway.

Figure 2 Figure 3

The first step in creating a beer stein is a black and white sketch or, more likely, a series of sketches. With the “Duck Hunt” stein, since the general configuration (body and lid shape, handle, etc.) were already established by the first in the series, the sketches (two of which are shown in Figures 2 and 3) were limited to the artwork with which the stein would be decorated. The initial sketches for the stein, as well as follow-up drawings, were done by Direct Impact, Inc., a commercial art company in St. Louis which often produces the graphics for products distributed by Anheuser-Busch.

After approval of the sketches by A-B, Tradex and Olin Corporation, the next step was a full-color rendering (Figure 4). (Note that the picture is curved to fit around the shape of the stein, which is wider at the bottom than the top.) Once that had been approved, production of prototypes could begin.

Because “Duck Hunt” is a deep-relief stein, prototype development began with the creation of a three-dimensional clay model. What may surprise some readers is the fact that the model was flat (as opposed to being made in the shape of a stein), similar in appearance to a colorless topographic map.

A “Master Mold” was then created by pouring plaster over the model to create a negative impression (still flat) of the stein body. In this case, there were actually two Master Molds (Figure 5) — one for the bulk of the stein body, and one for the ducks flying overhead which are apparently applied by hand prior to the first firing.

Figure 4 Figure 5

The next step in the prototype-making process was to pour a “plasticene” substance into the clay Master Mold. Once set, the flexible plasticene, containing a positive deep-relief image, was wrapped around a stein-shaped form to build a “Mother Mold.” The Mother Mold was then used to create a two-part plaster “Working Mold” from which the prototype stein bodies were made.

Figure 6

In the case of the Duck Hunt stein, liquid clay was poured into the Working Mold and allowed to partially dry. Since the liquid dries (and sets) from the outside in, once partial drying occurred, the remaining liquid was poured off and the two halves of the Working Mold were separated to produce the raw stein body (“Greenware”). Any irregularities (mold joint marks, etc.) were then removed, and a separately-molded handle was applied, as were the flying duck appliqués. The greenware then got an “underglaze” and its first firing to produce a completed stoneware body ready for hand-painting, application of the Winchester logo, another coat of glaze and a final firing. (Figure 6)

Figure 7

As all this was occurring, a similar process was taking place to design and produce the stein’s pewter lid. Moreover, work was also underway to create the packaging, including a gift box and styrofoam insert.

I’ll leave the story of how these things get accomplished for another time. Suffice it to say that overall responsibility for development and manufacture of all components belonged to Tradex, an organization which might best be described as a “beer stein general contractor.” While Anheuser-Busch (the distributor) and Olin Corporation (the licensor) had approval authority at each stage of the development process, creation of the product, from the first drawings to the boxed steins ready for shipment, was the sole responsibility of Tradex and its subcontractors.

Finally, once the prototype Duck Hunt steins had been decorated and the lids applied to produce finished products (Figure 7), the samples were distributed for final approval. That approval, of course, was forthcoming and manufacturing was begun to produce the first batch of new steins, which are now on dealer shelves. If you hunt with a Winchester, you might want to go check one out.

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*Reprinted by permission from Prosit, the Journal of Stein Collectors International, Vol 2, No. 23, September 1997