How does a White Label Brewing process work?
First we kindly ask you to get in touch with us via the survey form provided on our website. With just a few questions it helps us to find the best solution for your venture. Your requirements are the base for our further operations. We will then evaluate your online answers and calculate an individual offer just for you. It will include prices for beer and for printing, filling and labelling.
Now you have the chance to create your own brands using beers brewed by experienced German brew masters. You can claim “BREWED IN GERMANY” on all your products. “DEUTSCHES BIER” (translated “GERMAN BEER”) has a great reputation across the globe. It is some kind of a quality assurance due to the Reinheitsgebot of 1516.
As an example, you are located in Spain, and you would like to create a distribution for special beers. You will probably look for a manufacturer in Germany or Belgium, because beers from Europe are highly regarded in the world. Now you made your decision and you want to work with a brewery from Germany – with us. We will offer you one of our products, for example or our light Lager. This Lager is highly regarded as it is refreshing and crisp.
Your next step is to choose a design. You want it to look traditional and northern? This might be the best fit for your future distribution. So we will take this duty and develop a nice beer can made from aluminium. You provide your design inspiration, and we have the cans produced. Minimum numbers will be individually agreed with you. Fees for the cans can differ with volumes. Please just leave your preliminary numbers in the web form further down this page. We will explain private label vs branded in the next paragraphs.
When cans are ready – this may take a few weeks – we fill the beer in cans, put the cans in boxes and put these boxes into one ISO-container. This container is then shipped to your port of destination. In the case of Spain we would use a truck, in the case of New York probably sea freight. Same as for cans the whole thing can also happen with beer in bottles. Label printing is a bit more flexible and quicker than production of cans.
Now as you have your own brand and hold in hands your own beer, your distribution can start. Your customers love the products and within short time, you will call us for your second order.
Our job is to make life easier for you. While you concentrate on marketing and brand development we brew the beer for you. Below you will find an overview of what we do for numerous clients world-wide, from China to India, from New York to Spain, in UK and in Australia.
How to do Contract Brewing?
White label brewing enables you to extend your range of beers offered. With many years of experience we help you through the complete process. For many happy customers we have helped to arrange the brewing, export and loading altogether. From recipe creation to filling, and from freight shipping to customs clearing, we promise you the best service when it comes to German beer. Our export customers range from large importers and food companies to ecommerce startups that sell there beers online.
What is the definition of Private Label Beer?
For a definition on how to do Contract Brewing and White Label (Private Label) Beer vs branded beer, please have a look here. White label means, that we produce the beer for you, pack it and finally ship it to your warehouse. Everything in this export process is conducted as to your specifications and technical requirements. We apply your branding to the beer bottles or beer cans. You are the owner of the brand. We only craft the beer for you. This way we enable you extend your product range. You can introduce German beer into your market. No matter if you already dispose of a brand name in your market, or if you like to create a completely new brand for German beers. We have the right product for you!
Contract Brewing and Private Label Beer.
We are a traditional beer manufacturer with a focus on export. We craft Lager beers and we own technology to produce any kind of beer you would like to sell under your brand. Our offering includes everything from development and production to filling and packaging of the products into cardboard boxes. Our brewery has been operating for several decades. The brewery is family run, so decision will be taken quickly and thoroughly. We use only latest state of the art equipment. Our brew house is a production plant compliant with national and international food safety standards. We use latest technology to produce goods, and we can easily scale up to any required volume. Our focus is on high output at highest quality. To ensure this we employ brew masters and a team of technicians who know their job.
As we operate around the clock we are highly efficient in terms of energy consumption. All beers of our company are available for your own branding and can be filled and labelled as to your requirements. Our offering includes recipe consultancy, production and packaging of goods.
White Label Brewing vs. Contract Brewing.
What is the difference between these two agreements? First of all, we can do both for you. While at white labelling usually the standard recipe is being use, contract brewing includes the amendments to the recipe needed to meet exactly your beer. In this case you provide us with your recipe and some samples of the beer you would like to brew. Then we adjust everything in our crafting process to replicate exactly your beer. This way you can extend your capacities and sell more beer even when you own capacities are full.
Private Label Beer vs Branded Beer Export.
Our products can either be chosen off the shelf (our beers filled under your label). Or we can craft beers just for your individual needs (contract brewing). Fees are not higher for this, but we may require higher minimums. Using an established brand from Germany and export the beer enables you to boost distribution. Your potential customers may know our brand already and sales speed up more quickly. This is why you need to decide: brewing beers for our own brand vs branded beer from Germany? According to your wishes you can also use one of our established domestic brands from the German market. Tell us!
What does a contract brewing Agreement look like?
Contract brewing is usually done at higher volumes than simple private label production. This is due to the higher work load connected with recipe implementation and yeast and warehouse management. We integrate your recipe into the agreement and develop the recipe with you. Based on this recipe an agreement is closed to brew this beer exclusively for you and to fill it in containers with your branding. No more formalities!
How to transmit the Beer Recipe?
Don’t worry. We are a fully equipped brewery and we work with experienced brew masters in the whole brewing process. Our production is highly efficient and we dispose of a laboratory to meet exactly your taste. After we have come to the final recipe, we can brew this beer over and over again. In your business plan ordering beer is just an email order away and you can calculate with a fixed price for further batches.
Is Contract Brewing Expensive?
We calculate all our operations with very tight margins. For us it is important to provide you the best product at reasonable prices. We focus on high output and put you into the position to sell your branding at competitive prices. As all our processes are sourced in-house we can keep costs low as we have no external liabilities. We craft our beers as to our best, and believe that only happy customers are loyal customers.
What are the benefits of private label brewing?
Everyone should do what he does best. This way we can achieve more in less time. With a white label solution you can focus on marketing, on ecommerce or on sales. This depends on your business plan. You do what you do best. And we do, what we do best: produce deliciously crafted German beer. This way you can offer your clients a product meeting the highest requirements. And you do not need to operate your own brewery. Plus every one of our beers is BREWED IN GERMANY. That label is still a very valuable argument for your customers to love your product. German beers have a great reputation for great ingredients, best taste and unrivalled purity. And higher quality justifies a higher price.
Our Beer Quality Assurance.
As a German brewery we comply with the Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law). This German speciality is a food safety law dating back to the year 1516. This law defines “German Beer” and excludes ingredients other than malt, hop, water and yeast. This definition of German beer is closely connected to this early food standard and quality assurance. We supply only highest quality beers, brewed in Germany under the rules of the Reinheitsgebot of 1516. This Purity Law is one of the first quality standards implemented in the food sector. Meanwhile we stick to these rules dating back over 500 years, we have a close eye on production cost to keep prices as low for you as possible. Our experience is based on many years of experience. We own all necessary licenses to make German beers. We produce white label beers for domestic customers in Germany and for international clients overseas. Our main markets include Europe, China, UK, Russia and USA. As an example, clients are located in London, New York, India, the UK in general and other European countries. Most of our customers ship the beers internationally.
Where are the beers produced?
The entire process is made in Germany. We brew your beer in our family owned brewery. Recipes are long tested and have been used in many successful brands. Then the beer is filled in barrels, cans or bottles. Everything happens in one company, and no transport can do any harm to the fine product. We brew the beer in a high tech facility, equipped with state of the art brewing equipment and each a bottle and can filling line. All ingredients are sourced locally, so malts, hops and water produce an original German Pils, Helles, Wheat Beer or Dark Lager. In addition to that we can provide other European beer styles, such as Irish stout, Belgian Tripel or English ale. Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions you might have!
What is the definition of the goods we make for you?
What kind of goods we make depends very much on your necessities. As you focus on the marketing of the products, it is crucial that you let us know what kind of beer you exactly need. Our offering includes anything from bright beer in tanks to readily filled cans with your logo on it. We provide the technology to make goods as to your requirements. Our rates vary with volume and with packing style. Our facility is apt to fill cans and kegs of different sizes. But we can also fill a tank for transportation. This way we ease the marketing for you.
Packaging and Customs.
Beer in Cans
For you as a reseller is important to have a great branding, a great appearance and outstanding taste. Therefore we offer a broad range of technologies for packing and marketing. Most resellers develop their own branding and offer beers through supermarkets, bottle shops and ecommerce. Whatever your preferred offering is, we can help!
One of the preferred technologies for filling beers on an international scale is to use aluminium cans. We dispose of filling lines for the usage of different can types. Most common are 500ml cans, but also 330ml and One Pint (568ml) are preferred customers’ requests. A usual sea freight container holds about 45,000 cans of 0.5 litres. Please see below for a complete list of standard filling opportunities.
All cans will be packed in cardboard boxes. We can provide 4-pack, 6-pack and 8-packs as to your requests. Cans will be put on trays of 24 cans. This is a technically save and easy setup to transport goods to their final destination. Design will be developed together with you to meet your requirements. These marketing requirements may differ with different shop types. If your beer will be sold in an online shop you might prefer aluminium cans, while in fine dining restaurants and supermarkets a longneck bottle may be more suitable.
We dispose of a can filling line to fill any can size. Usual filling sizes include:
Cans (printed or sleeved):
250ml volume, aluminium can
330ml volume, aluminium can
500ml volume, aluminium can
950ml volume, aluminium can
5 Litre Mini-Kegs (also: Party Keg), aluminium keg
Beer in Bottles
In our filling technology we are able to fill glass bottles or PET. Depending on the quantity you demand, minimums for glass bottles are lower than for individualized cans. Also there is a high demand for best quality beers in glass bottles. Customers perceive glass as a more valuable product than cans. But Craft Beers are currently high in demand, both bottled and canned. It always depends on the market you are offering your products in.
Nevertheless, bottles are heavier than cans. This makes transport more costly, and bottles may require a higher margin than canned beers. There are many opportunities to get neat branding for bottles. We will be happy to support your branding process online and on premise. Like other brewers you might want to individualize crown caps and labels. Our company provides you with specimen labels, so you can define how to brand front label, back label and neck label of the bottles. And it’s kickstarter easy! As not otherwise requested, all bottles will be delivered to you in card board boxes. We can easily use branded boxes with your brand printed on it if you ask us to do so. So we recruit all available options to make life as easy as possible for you as a reseller. Please take our online survey at the end of the page, to receive your personal offer within a few days.
We fill bottles of different forms, colours and sizes.
Bottles (available in green, brown or white glass):
330ml volume, glass bottles
500ml volume, glass bottles
500ml volume, PET bottle
1 Litre volume, PET bottle
Bottled beers will be packed into cardboard boxes on pallets for export. We do all the loading and customs declarations together with you. We are experienced with formalities in international cross-border shipments.
Kegged Beer
You only want the beer? Fine! Kegged beers are available in either reusable kegs or as one way packaging. We have experience with Petainer, KeyKeg and Dolium, as well as all other standard PET barrels. Of course beers can also be filled in liquid tank containers (ISO container) of 20ft.
Usual keg sizes include:
20 l nonreturnable barrel
30 l nonreturnable barrel
What is more costly, filling into bottles or into cans?
From a cost perspective this depends very much on the volume that you are ordering. If it is just a few thousand bottles that you are looking at, then bottles are clearly the more cost efficient option. If you are implementing a new brand in markets such as India, China or Brazil, then a can is clearly what you are looking for. Cans can be printed as to your requirements. From a marketing perspective they offer a much room for printing and branding. From a pricing perspective can prices decrease with volume. From just a million cans on you will profit from the benefits of aluminium cans. Cans are lightweight, very easy to transport, light absorbing and can easily transport your brand image – be it in a shelf or in online ecommerce.
What are the minimums?
It is hard to tell one definite number. The barrels or hectolitres you need depend very much on what your business plan looks like. (By the way, one US barrel equals 1.17 hectolitres). If you are looking to sell beer with your own brand in bottles we can easily start with 50 hectolitres (equivalent to 15,000 bottles of 330ml or 10,000 bottles of 500ml). We will happily provide you with a contact name for the creation of your labels and attach these to our delicious German Helles or Pilsener or Wheat Beer. This is probably the best way to start into the German domestic beer market. If you are located overseas, in India or in China, then shipment plays an important role in your calculation. Shipments under one container are usually not feasible. We will support you in all aspects of the whole process. We are experienced in handling formalities and customs declaration as well as in the brand building process. In many countries you will require a license to import alcoholic beverages such and wine and beer. Other countries charge a duty on the import of imported goods. Please conduct comprehensive research before the final shipment takes place.
Branding Consultancy
We help you being seen! Every beer we craft can be filled in containers bearing your design. This goes for bottles, cans and kegs. We will help you find the right design to print your individual design on cans and bottles. If you prefer we will liaise with your design office and evaluate all opportunities for your new brand. This makes it possible to be a real kickstarter. You request your offer, we brew and fill your beers and within just a couple of weeks you receive your beers in Spain, New York, India, UK or wherever you may be located.
The definition of private label beer vs branded beer is not always clear. Depending on the brands you use, you will be able to position your products as branded goods. Over time your own brand develops and increases in value. To develop loyal customers and fans main focus is certainly the quality assurance, as only great products receive great recognition. This way you will gain more reputation and your own brand will accumulate fame and customer recognition.
Using an established German Beer Brand
Apart from this, of course, you always have the opportunity of using an established brand from Germany. We produce many different beers, for us and for other. We have an established brand, famous in the German domestic market. As an importer you may also buy beer from us and act as an importer and reseller in your specific market. Please let us know if that is the easiest procedure for you.
What should my branding look like?
Branding is the most crucial point for you, of course. We care about the brewing process, you care about the marketing and sales. So your branding should always comply with the expectations of your clients in your final market. German Beer is almost a brand in some parts of the world. Markets such as China and India are very open to imported goods from Europe. Be sure to place “German Beer” as a quality seal on every of your bottles. It makes your product more valuable and distribution becomes easier. There are a number of successful examples available on the markets. Some of those have been brewed by us. We will of course help you with graphic design and label production. We will share our experience and help you benefit from our previous agreements. The good news is that branding costs are very low. If you order aluminium cans to sell canned beer in your market, then you will benefit from our special agreements with international can producers. We get our blank cans directly from the manufacturer and printing takes place on the most efficient and up to date machinery. This is just another example of how we conduct our business: if we do something, we do it right.
Which margins are to expect?
We strive to produce high end beers at the lowest possible price. We do not want to earn a lot with every single bottle. We want to enter into a long term agreement with you. We want to supply you with beer for the time to come. This why we keep our margins low and focus on variety and volume rather than on high prices. With your product in the market you can define your own margin. Keep in mind that with a beer brewed in Germany you are offering an upmarket product. Our beers a brewed without glucose or other internationally used ingredients. We use only the best regional ingredients such as malts and yeasts and hops. Please calculate your margin based on this assumption. You will always be able to charge a surplus for the benefits of these beers. Compare prices in the local supermarket and you will find that with a German company on the back label it always pays to charge an extra margin.
Shipping and Formalities.
In the further process we will take care of all further formalities including loading, shipping and customs documents with German authorities. All you need to do is waiting for your containers to be unloaded at your port of destination.
Our company has experience to fulfil time critical productions and deliveries. Our team will assure correct labelling, packaging and in time shipment of your goods. No matter if it is a one-time batch or a continuously growing business you want the beers for. We provide you with beers brewed in Germany.
Please note that on our filling machinery we are also able to fill non-alcoholic beers, juice, soft drinks, water and other products. We are happy to make you an offer for juices and sparkling softs if this is how to make your customers happy.
What information do we require from you?
Our calculation will be based on your estimated order sizes. We ask you to fill in information about your initial order size, and to provide estimation for the first year. Based on this information we can easily recommend you the best form of filling. We can fill aluminium cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles and kegs (barrels). We have the technical opportunity to fill either in returnable containers or to use one way containers for overseas shipping.
After we receive your form, we will review the information carefully and get back to you in case new have further questions. You will receive your personal contact person in our office. So the whole process will run smooth and seamless.
Please help us meet your requirements the best way possible. In the following survey form you may submit your requirements, specify beer style, preferred packaging and estimated demand.