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?

[Andy]

We have a local brewery called Heiner Brau that brews a Kolsch. This was the first one I tried and I really liked it. I was able to sample it at the brewery.