Belgium customs destroys champagne of beers

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Belgium is showing us food protectionism at its silliest. Belgian customs officials have destroyed than 2,000 cans of the beer Miller High Life at the behest of the champagne lobby. The Comité Champagne—a trade association representing "the common interests of Champagne houses and growers"—objected to Miller High Life's slogan: "The Champagne of Beers."

Miller High Life has used this slogan for more than a century. It is clearly a metaphor meant to denote the (alleged) high quality of Miller High Life beer, not to mislead consumers into thinking that the beer is literally champagne.

Nonetheless, the Comité Champagne objected that the slogan infringed on the protected status of the word champagne, which in the European Union can only be used to refer to a sparkling wine derived from and produced in the Champagne region of France. And so cases of Miller High Life destined for a customer in Germany were seized at the Belgian port of Antwerp on Friday.
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Belgium destroys thousands of Miller High Life cans over 'Champagne of Beers' slogan

Miller High Life has used this slogan for more than a century. It is clearly a metaphor meant to denote the (alleged) high quality of Miller High Life beer.

reason.com