Kölsch question

[Bryce Eddings]

I'm reading Kölsch by Eric Warner of the Classic Beer Styles series. It was published in 1998. (I wish that they'd update the series.)

In it he talks about how the Köln based brewers got the German government to agree to treat the term "Kölsch" like Champagne, Scotch, or Chianti - no one producing the stuff outside of the defined geographical region could call it Kölsch. Obviously American brewers haven't respected this but do European? The EU made the Germans relax parts of Rheinheitsgebot so I wonder if they meddled with the Kölsch Konvention as well.

Anyone know?

[Eli the Mad Beer Man]

Wow, no kidding? American breweries definitely don't pay attention to that. Maybe because the long arm fo the beer law doesnt' reach this far? I'd definitely like to know if EU breweries adhere to that.

Good knowledge, Bryce... thanks for passing that along!

[Rob DeNunzio]

I've been racking my brain to see if I can conjure up a kölsch-style beer that's not just served in brewpubs but actually bottled, labeled, and widely distributed in the US that calls itself "kölsch" instead of "kölsch-style" or "German-style golden ale" or something like that. I have a hard time imagining the appellation control agency would feel the need to exert any pressure on breweries to change their beer names unless the Germans felt (like the French and Scotch and Italians before have) like they were losing on market share as a result of the naming. Considering how poorly kölsch travels, there's not much of it sharing markets out there, sort of like how nobody used to care about the two Budweisers before their distribution borders finally started to overlap.

[Chris of thebeergeek.com]

I believe the EU also has laws that protect geographical designations. So, the Kölsch designation wouldn't have any conflict.

[Bryce Eddings]

Chris of thebeergeek.com said:

I believe the EU also has laws that protect geographical designations. So, the Kölsch designation wouldn't have any conflict.

They do but they've been deciding them on a case by case basis. I remember a few years ago that there was a big dustup over feta cheese. The Greeks said that it was theirs and no one else could call their stinky, briny, salty cheese feta but the Danes (I think) wanted to call their own stinky, salty, briny cheese feta. I can't remember who won but it went to court.
I guess I'll stop being lazy about this and actually do some research. I was hoping that there might be a quick answer here.

[Chris of thebeergeek.com]

But is feta a geographical location like Köln?

[Bryce Eddings]

Well, no but I'd say that the question falls into roughly the same category. I remember a similar case over Scotch - some French distillers were trying to call something Scotch and it went to court. I think that I mostly wanted to complain about feta just then.

Here's what wikipedia has to say about it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origin

The Kolsch entry says that it is protected although I never trust unattributed "facts" found on wikipedia until I can find a second source.

Sometimes I enjoy feta on salads...

[Chris of thebeergeek.com]

I think I found it...
http://www.origin-food.org/pdf/pdo-pgi.pdf

On page 44, kölsch is listed at a protected product

[Bryce Eddings]

Or maybe it was whisky or whiskey, not Scotch...

[Bryce Eddings]

Chris of thebeergeek.com said:

I think I found it...
http://www.origin-food.org/pdf/pdo-pgi.pdf

On page 44, kölsch is listed at a protected product

Very cool, thanks Chris. I'm going to keep that link. I tend to come up with this question from time to time so this will be very helpful.

[Travis]

Alaskan Brewing Company used to be bottled as a Kolsch. Over the past year I have seen them be re-labeled as Summer Ales or Kolsch Styles.

Rob DeNunzio said:

I've been racking my brain to see if I can conjure up a kölsch-style beer that's not just served in brewpubs but actually bottled, labeled, and widely distributed in the US that calls itself "kölsch" instead of "kölsch-style" or "German-style golden ale" or something like that. I have a hard time imagining the appellation control agency would feel the need to exert any pressure on breweries to change their beer names unless the Germans felt (like the French and Scotch and Italians before have) like they were losing on market share as a result of the naming. Considering how poorly kölsch travels, there's not much of it sharing markets out there, sort of like how nobody used to care about the two Budweisers before their distribution borders finally started to overlap.

[Deege]

kolsch is protected, but most of the beers labeled as such in America
don't make it out of the country. It is harder to enforce those infractions, but if Budweiser tried it you can believe the Germans would go after it. Most get around it by labeling it as kolsch style.

However if the ingredients are German and the yeast is German and your water profile matches their water, what is the difference? Personally I hate monopolies and protectionist schemes like this.

[Bryce Eddings]

Deege said:

Personally I hate monopolies and protectionist schemes like this.

I'm of two minds on this sort of thing. Kölsch is a word that is definitely of a specific place so I don't begrudge the brewers seeking to protect the term. Regardless of where you stand on the Budweiser issue you have to admit that it must be supremely irritating to brewers in the actual city not to mention how damaging such a thing could potentially be to their product. (Budweiser is a bad example of the latter point because most everyone understands the difference but I think you get my point.)

On the other hand I agree with you, Deege, that most terms should be as widely available as possible. Everyone should be able to make a stout however they want and call it a stout regardless of where they're making it and for what brewery.

Protectionism works in both directions. What if MillerCoors decided to make a beer and call it Avery? I would certainly want to see that blocked else it could damage the reputation of Avery and perhaps put one of my favorites out of business.