Sam Amico
If there’s one thing beer drinkers don’t want to think about after a long day at the office, or anytime really, it’s something other than a beer.
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Certainly, champagne should only be reserved for special occasions.
And if you’re in Europe, Champagne apparently is reserved for France.
So when Miller High Life attempted to distribute cans in Europe and use its long-held moniker of being “The Champagne of Beers” with an accompanying inscription … well, let’s just say it didn’t go over so well.
In short, the Comité Champagne — or committee set up to make sure anything with “Champagne” on it in Europe comes from the French region of the same name — put an end to Miller High Life importing cans with promises of “Champagne.”
This began back in February, when customs officers in Belgium seized a shipment of 2,352 Miller High Life cans that were headed to Germany, per CBS News. Officials told reporters that the cans were seized “because they used the protected designation of origin ‘Champagne,’ and this goes against European regulations.”
Miller High Life
This may have come as a bit of a surprise to Miller High Life, based in Milwaukee. After all, it’s been calling itself The Champagne of Beers” since 1906. Until now, no one had a problem with it.
For the record, Belgium officials didn’t bother to return the cans to Milwaukee. Instead, they opened them, poured them out, then crushed them for recycling.
Seems a bit excessive, no?
But if there’s one thing you don’t want to do, it allows Europeans to confuse champagne with Champagne. You can bet that nowadays, Miller High Life will sure drink to that.
