Grain Belt Knife Tap Handle: How August Schell Brewing Put a Blade on the Bar
Updated October 2026 by Brad Lugar
Quick answer: The Grain Belt knife is a sculpted resin tap handle Steel City Tap Co. designed and built for August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm, Minnesota, the second oldest family owned brewery in the country and the owner of the Grain Belt brand. It is a fixed blade knife: black blade with the Grain Belt script running up it, a wrapped grip, and a dog tag on a bead chain hanging off the guard. The first prototype shipped in December 2024, the brewery approved it with no changes, and they came back for a second run in 2026. Every handle runs through our shop in Birmingham, Alabama.
Who is August Schell Brewing?
August Schell founded his brewery in New Ulm in 1860, and the fifth and sixth generations of the family still run it. Schell's bought the Grain Belt brand in 2002 after the Minneapolis brewery that made it went under, and brought a beer that dates to 1893 back to Minnesota bars. Grain Belt Premium is the one most people know. Nordeast came in 2010.
A brewery with that much history does not need a gimmick on the tap wall. What it needs is a handle that feels like it belongs in the bars where Grain Belt has poured for a century, and a knife does that in a way a logo on a stick never will.
What did the concept look like?
The concept went to Schell's in October 2024. The blade is the billboard: a tall black field with Grain Belt in the script lettering off the can, which is exactly the kind of long vertical logo a tap handle wants. The grip is wrapped so there is something to hold onto and something for the hand to recognize without looking.
The dog tag is the detail that makes it a knife and not a letter opener. It hangs off the guard on a chain, it moves when the bartender pulls, and it is the first thing anybody at the bar asks about.
What did the brewery change?
One thing, and it was the right thing. When the CAD came back the brewery's vice president liked it a lot, then asked the question every brewery should ask: what happens when the handle ends up sideways on the faucet, and the blade faces the wall? From the side, a knife is a thin black line. Nobody sees Grain Belt.
So we added a logo to the sides. The grip was reshaped from a cylinder to a rounded triangle so there was a flat enough face to print on, and a single color Grain Belt mark went on each side. Sideways on the faucet, the handle still says whose beer it is. The CAD was approved in early December 2024 and the prototype went into the shop.
Did the prototype match?
The prototype shipped before Christmas and the answer back was the shortest approval we get: the piece looks amazing, no changes. That is what a good CAD stage buys you. Every question about the shape, the side view and the logo placement got answered on a screen, so the physical sample was a confirmation, not a surprise.
The first production run followed in 2025. In February 2026 Schell's came back for a second run of the same handle, which is the only review of a tap handle that counts.
Why does a knife work for a heritage beer?
Because it is an object, not a graphic. A knife reads from across a bar before anyone can read a word, and it fits the rooms Grain Belt lives in: VFW halls, supper clubs, lake bars, the kind of places where the handle has been on the wall longer than the bartender. The brand is on the blade. The handle is doing the work.
Object handles are one of the oldest tricks on a tap wall, and still one of the best. For more, read Custom Sword Tap Handle: Next Quest Brewing and 7 Ways to Design a Beer Tap Handle.
What does it take to order one?
Fully custom sculpted handles like the Grain Belt knife start at 100 units, with price breaks at 100, 250, 500, and 1,000+. We do not charge new customers a design fee to draw their handle. Every order runs through our shop in Birmingham, Alabama.
Send can art, a logo, or a phone snapshot of a sketch on the custom tap handle quote page, or look through finished work in our resin tap handles and custom tap handles.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Grain Belt knife tap handle?
It is a sculpted resin tap handle Steel City Tap Co. built for August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm, Minnesota, shaped like a fixed blade knife with the Grain Belt script up the blade, a wrapped grip and a dog tag on a chain.
How do you keep a thin tap handle readable from the side?
Put a mark on the sides. On the Grain Belt knife we reshaped the grip to a rounded triangle and added a single color logo on each side, so the handle still identifies the beer when it sits sideways on the faucet.
What is the minimum order for a custom sculpted tap handle?
Fully custom tap handles start at 100 units, with price breaks at 100, 250, 500, and 1,000+. Stock handle shapes printed with your logo start at 12 units, and a blank stock handle can be ordered one at a time.
Do you charge for tap handle concept drawings?
We do not charge new customers a design fee to design their handle. Send a logo, can art, or even a phone snapshot, and we come back with concepts to react to.
Will a custom handle fit our existing faucets?
Yes. Our handles use a 3/8-16 thread, the standard on US beer faucets, so they install without adapters or special hardware.