Kölsch Convention

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Kölsch Convention

The Kölsch Convention bindingly regulates which beer may be called Kölsch and which competition rules apply to the Kölsch brewers organized in the Cologne Brewery Association. These rules were approved by the Federal Cartel Office on May 31 and June 5, 1985 and then published in the Federal Gazette .

General

Master brewer Hans Sion recognized as early as 1945 that uniform rules were required for the production and sale of the various Kölsch beer brands. In the course of time, the number of Kölsch brands produced in the Cologne region has now increased to 23. This makes Cologne one of the most important beer cities in Germany. Sion is considered the initiator of the Kölsch Convention. The trigger for the unification interests, however, were determinations outside of Cologne. Already in the agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and France of March 8, 1960, in Annex A, Kölsch beer is listed as a geographical designation of origin for German beer. In addition, several court rulings attracted attention. In 1963 it was determined by the Cologne Regional Court that Kölsch not only refers to the type of beer, but also to the area of ​​its origin. Then the Federal Court of Justice confirmed in May 1970 that the word "Kölsch" for beer was also a generic name . He also did not object to the fact that Kölsch was also a geographical designation of origin. It could very well be that a designation of origin also refers to certain properties of the goods in question. The pale top-fermented beer called Kölsch represents both a geographical and a generic name. However, he did not consider it justifiable to call it obvious that, according to consumers, Kölsch beer must be produced in the city of Cologne. The Cologne Higher Regional Court also confirmed the protected geographical designation of origin in 1980. As early as 1981 the Cologne Brewery Association decided to have a convention drawn up and enforced the formulated convention among all members. On March 6, 1986, the board members of the then 24 Kölsch breweries solemnly signed the Kölsch Convention in the ballroom of the Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne .

Members

The Kölsch Convention was signed by 24 breweries in 1986. Of these, nine breweries were still producing Kölsch in 2011. A total of eleven breweries in Germany brew Kölsch:

Definition of Kölsch

In terms of the convention, Kölsch is

  • a full beer ,
  • top-fermented ,
  • bright,
  • blank, i.e. filtered and clear,
  • slim, i.e. highly fermented, dry, not very full-bodied or malty,
  • hoppy ,
  • Manufactured exclusively in Cologne, with the exception of breweries outside the urban area of ​​Cologne that had already acquired a valuable asset with the name "Kölsch" before the Convention came into force.

The convention stipulates that Kölsch must be filtered clean, which is why the emergence of unfiltered Kölschs in the course of the renaissance of small breweries with mostly naturally cloudy, unfiltered beers that began in the late 1980s initially caused some legal disputes. Today, a beer that is not filtered according to the Koelsch brewing method must therefore be expressly described as “unfiltered”, “cloudy yeast” or “naturally cloudy”. Other additions such as “Ur-Kölsch” or “Echt Kölsch” are prohibited to members.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kölsch Convention. Cologne Brewery Association, accessed on December 23, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Cologne Brewery Association: Kölsch brands. ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ BGBl. 1961 II p. 23 ff.
  4. ↑ BGBl. 1961 II p. 36
  5. ^ Regional Court of Cologne, Az .: 24 O 53/62
  6. ^ BGH judgment of May 22, 1970, Az .: I ZR 125/68
  7. ↑ BGH GRUR 1970, 517 f., OLG Cologne, WRP 1981, 160, 162
  8. ↑ a b koelsch-net.de, under further information.