Miller High Life beer cans destroyed after slogan disapproval: 'Misleads the public and harms winemakers'

Social media users and representatives of Champagne producers are speaking out after more than 2,000 Miller High Life beer cans were destroyed in Belgium per a request from a French champagne committee, which represents champagne producers who don’t approve of the beer brand’s slogan – "Champagne of Beers."

Comité Champagne, a professional organization that represents champagne growers, producers, merchants, traders and cooperatives in Champagne, the historic wine region of France, reached out to Belgian customs officials to destroy the confiscated beer shipment.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, April 18, the champagne committee announced the General Administration of Belgian Customs followed through on the request and destroyed 2,352 cans of Miller High Life, which were bound for Germany.

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The committee argued that Miller High Life’s slogan infringes on Champagne’s protected designation of origin.

"This destruction is the result of a successful collaboration between Belgian customs authorities and the Comité Champagne," Charles Goemaere, managing director of the Comité Champagne, said in a statement.

"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," he continued. "[We] congratulate the Belgian Customs for their vigilance with regard to the Champagne designation and for their responsiveness."

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Some people recently took to Twitter to voice opinions about the beer-can draining and destruction.

"If the Champagne Industrial Complex is worried that they will be confused with Miller High Life—the "champagne of beers"—they clearly haven’t tried one," one person tweeted.

"Branding wouldn't mean much without legal protections of names," an advertising agency wrote. "The EU isn't shy about defending things like champagne."

A TikTok user who goes by @beeraficionado offered his own opinion, writing: "I bet this ‘bad news’ got a few toasts for all the free PR."

Additional TikTok users chimed in after the Associated Press posted the news on the video-sharing platform.

"Yeah except, they're not calling it champagne they're making a comparison," one TikTok-er wrote, in defense of Miller High Life.

"That’s when EU laws get too ridiculous," another person wrote.

A spokesperson for the Champagne Bureau, USA, the official U.S. representative of the Comité Champagne, told FOX Business the seizure and destruction of the Miller High Life shipment in Belgium were done in accordance with European law.

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"While international wine region names, such as Napa Valley and Willamette Valley, are increasingly protected in Europe, the U.S. government refuses to afford that same legal protection to certain European wine regions, like Champagne," Champagne Bureau, USA wrote in an email.

"It is disingenuous for some American producers to use the Champagne name when their product is not from the region," the bureau continued. "It misleads the public and harms winemakers all over the world. When a region name is misused, the credibility of the wine industry as a whole is diminished."

FOX Business reached out to Molson Coors Beverage Co., the parent company of Miller High Life, for comment.

Miller High Life has associated its beer with Champagne in reference to the brew’s premium packaging since 1903.  

The company’s old slogan, "The Champagne of Bottle Beers," was used from 1906 to 1969. It was later shortened to the "Champagne of Beers," and the slogan has been printed on Miller High Life beer packaging for five decades.

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The Champagne name is reportedly reserved for select sparkling wines produced only in the Champagne region of France under the European Union’s current regulations on protected designation of origin.

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The 2,352 cans of Miller High Life beer were shipped to a consignee in Germany earlier this year, but the shipment was intercepted at a port in Antwerp, Belgium, in February, according to Comité Champagne.

"The consignee of the cans in Germany was informed and did not contest the decision," the committee wrote in its press release.

Belgian customs confiscated the beer because current regulations set by the European Union stipulate that imported products that infringe on the protected designation of origin of a member state should be handled as "counterfeit goods," according to Comité Champagne.

The champagne committee disclosed it cited "European Regulation 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council" established on Dec. 17, 2013, to illustrate the "illicit nature" of the imported beer and its reported "infringement" in their request to the General Administration of Belgian Customs.

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In a statement, Belgian Customs Service Administrator Kristian Vanderwaeren said the agency sees thousands of instances of products infringing on protected designations of origin.

"The Comité Champagne helps train our teams and provides information that allows us to identify whether products are genuine or counterfeit," he said. "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."

Westlandia VZW, a metal processing company that specialized in cleaning, assembly and packaging in Ypres, Belgium, handled the beer shipment’s ordered destruction, according to Comité Champagne.

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The committee reports Westlandia destroyed the entire batch "with the utmost respect for environmental concerns," and recycled the beer and its metal containers "in an environmentally responsible manner."

In statement released to FOX Business, Molson Coors said it's "proudly worn the nickname ‘The Champagne of Beers’ for almost 120 years."

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"Of course, we respect local restrictions around the word ‘champagne,’ but we remain proud of Miller High Life, its nickname and its Milwaukee, Wisconsin provenance," Molson Coors wrote, in part. "We invite our friends in Europe to the U.S. any time to toast the High Life together."