Engraved beer steins:
custom steins for clubs, breweries and companies

Eighty stoneware steins, each one engraved with the club crest, twelve of them with the name of an honorary member as well: that is what a typical engraving order for a club anniversary looks like at our works. The engraving does not sit on the stein, it sits in the material – sandblasted, colour-filled in the club colour if you wish, permanent and dishwasher-safe. This article explains when engraving beats printing, how it is done, which steins suit it and how to order your series.

Both techniques last a stein's lifetime. What differs is the effect. Screen print lies on the glaze as a surface: multi-coloured crests, solid Pantone colours, bold logos, brilliant and opaque. Sandblast engraving goes into the depth: the design is worked into the surface and stays there as a recessed, matt relief you can feel. Left plain it shows in the colour of the material, grey or beige on stoneware, satin white on glass. Just as common is the colour-filled engraving – a single colour, the brown of a crest or the club colour, sitting inside the recess. You see the design and you feel it.

That makes engraving the first choice whenever the stein is meant to mark something lasting: the club anniversary with its year, the award for long-standing members, the set of steins that keeps its place on the shelf of the local pub. If you need a multi-coloured crest or a company logo across a large area in your corporate colours, printing is the way to go – everything about that is on our page beer steins with your logo.

First the stein is covered with a film in which your design is cut out – masking, done by hand at our works. The exposed area is then worked with a fine blasting medium until a clean, recessed relief appears. The film comes off, the design stays: crisp even on fine lines, because sandblasting handles very detailed artwork. On request we fill the engraving with colour – on steins that is just as common as leaving it plain. The colour sits protected inside the recess, so the stein combines depth and colour.

Because nothing is applied and material is removed instead, there is nothing that could flake off. Engraved beer steins go into the dishwasher like any other Granvogl stein. How the technique works in detail and how it looks on porcelain, ceramic and glass is shown on our page engraving with sandblasting technique.

The stoneware stein. The classic for clubs. The stoneware comes from European production, the engraving sits recessed in the stein – plain in the grey or beige of the material, or colour-filled, for example in the brown of a crest or the blue of a club. Rustic, understated, unmistakably "our stein". In 0.5 litres as the regulars' and anniversary stein, in 0.25 and 0.35 litres as the smaller version for receptions and tapping ceremonies.

The one-litre Maßkrug. For festival caterers, club festivals and the brass band's trip to the Oktoberfest: the one-litre stein in stoneware or glass with an engraved crest and year. If you need hundreds of Maßkrug steins for a festival, you get them as a series – all identical, or the same crest with changing names (see FAQ).

Engraved beer glasses. On glass the engraving creates a matt, satin area within the clear body – elegant for hospitality, easy to read for lettering and dates. Etched beer mugs and glass tankards are engraved by the same technique.

Engraved steins with a pewter lid. If the stein is to become a piece of honour, combine the engraving with a lid of pure pewter – made by hand in Germany, cast firmly onto the stein and engravable with a design or lettering itself. Models and details: pewter lids for steins.

Whether shooting club, brass band, traditional costume society or sports club: the engraved stein is the one that stays. Three occasions clubs order from us for:

The anniversary. The club crest plus "1926–2026" or "100 years", one stein for every member, a set for the club cabinet. Engraving suits the occasion because it does not read like advertising, it reads like a piece of the club's history.

The regulars' table. A set of steins with the crest that stays in the local pub and is used by your own people only. With each regular's name on his own stein if you like.

The award. For long-standing members, honorary chairmen, the standard-bearers: crest, name, year – and a pewter lid to go with it. A stein of honour that is back on the table at the next festival.

If your club would rather have the stein printed in colour, with the multi-coloured crest for every member for instance, read on at custom printed beer steins for clubs.

We produce engraved steins in series from 25 pieces. All stein models are in stock at our works, so you are not waiting for blanks. The process: you send us your crest or lettering, we check whether it works for engraving and send you a quote together with a preview of the design on the stein of your choice. Once you approve it, the series goes into production; lead time is 15 to 20 working days, the same as for printing. Everything is made at our works in Langenmosen, Bavaria, by hand.

No artwork yet? A scan or photo of your crest is enough for a first assessment – we will prepare the print-ready file together with you.