The Comite Champagne and the General Administration of Belgian Customs had the Westlandia Company to smash up 2,352 bottles of Miller High Life beer that was on its way to Germany.

According to information within the Comite Champagne’s press release, representatives for the Comite Champagne and the General Administration of Belgian Customs decided that Miller High Life beer’s nickname, “The Champagne of Beer”, was grounds enough to smash up the 2,352 bottles of beer.

“Protected designation of origin: destruction of beer cans abusively bearing the designation champagne,” is what the Comite Champagne wrote in the press release. 

The Comite Champagne folks said that the intended receiver of the 2,352 bottles of Miller High Life beer did not make a fuss about not getting his or her 2,352 cans of “The Champagne of Beer”.

The Comite Champagne is an organization that is the “world guardians of everything having to do with champagne.” As the “world guardians of everything having to do with champagne,” the organization tells government agencies, like the General Administration of Belgian Customs, about companies the organization has identified as champagne fraudsters.

“The Comite Champagne helps train our teams and provides information that allows us to identify whether products are genuine or counterfeit. When a counterfeit is detected, as is the case here, we also agree on the decision to destroy these goods and how to get them destroyed,” is what the administrator of the Belgian Customs Service, Kristian Vanderwaeren, is quoted in the press release as saying.

The Miller High Life folks, which are a part of the Miller Brewing Company, would say they aren’t trying to pass themselves off as a champagne company. And that in fact what they are doing is using the word champagne to describe how good the company’s beer is. As evidence of that fact, the Miller High Life folks would most likely point to the nickname, “The Champagne of Bottle Beer,” the company’s customers gave the company back in 1903.

During that time, according to the Miller High Life folks , folks got their beer from the Tavern or out of a bucket. By bottling the beer and placing it in stores, the Miller High Life folks made it easier for folks to get their liquor.

Due to the accessibility and taste of the beer, folks back then gave Miller High Life the nickname, “The Champagne of Bottle Beer.” It wasn’t until the late 60s that the Miller High Life folks shorten the name to “The Champagne of Beer.”

If the Comite Champagne and General Administration folks had gone to the Miller High Life website, then they would have seen that Miller High Life makes it clear that they are a beer company. Not once do the Miller High Life folks say they use grapes to make beer. Like all beer makers, the Miller High Life folks say that they use barley, hops, and yeast to make their beer.

But for some reason or another, the Comite Champagne and General Administration custom folks decided to ignore those facts and instead make a big fuss over a nickname. The Comite Champagne and the General Administration of Belgian Customs folks decided to pull out the European Regulation 1308/2013 card, accusing Miller High Life of being low life’s who were trying to pass themselves off as a champagne company.

“This destruction is the result of a successful collaboration between Belgian customs authorities and the Comite Champagne. It confirms the importance that the European Union attaches to designations of origin and rewards the determination of the Champagne producers to protect their designation,” is what the Comite Champagne managing director, Charles Goemaere, is quoted in the press release as saying.

Due to all of the Comite Champagne and General Administration Custom folks’ “successful collaboration” on destroying beer on the basis of its nickname, the good hard working folks of Germany won’t be able to enjoy “The Champagne of Beer.”