Belgian customs destroy 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as ‘Champagne of beers’
BRUSSELS –
The guardians of Champagne will let nobody take the identify of the bubbly beverage in useless, not even a U.S. beer behemoth.
For years, Miller High Life used the “Champagne of beers” slogan. This week, that appropriation turned unattainable to swallow.
At the request of the commerce physique defending the pursuits of homes and growers of the northeastern French glowing wine, Belgian customs crushed greater than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life marketed as such.
The Comite Champagne requested for the destruction of a cargo of two,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto utilized by the American brewery infringes the protected designation of origin “Champagne.”
The consignment was intercepted within the Belgian port of Antwerp in early February, a spokesperson on the Belgian Customs Administration stated on Friday, and was destined for Germany. Belgian customs declined to say who had ordered the beers.
The purchaser in Germany “was informed and did not contest the decision,” the commerce group stated in a press release.
Frederick Miller, a German immigrant to the US, based the Miller Brewing Company within the 1850s. Miller High Life, its oldest model, was launched as its flagship in 1903.
According to the Milwaukee-based model’s web site, the corporate began to make use of the “Champagne of beers” nickname three years later. At one level, the beer was additionally accessible in champagne-style bottles.
No matter how well-liked the slogan is within the United States, it’s incompatible with European Union guidelines making clear that items infringing a protected designation of origin will be handled as counterfeit.
The 27-nation bloc has a system of protected geographical designations created to ensure the true origin and high quality of artisanal meals, wine and spirits, and defend them from imitation. That market is price almost 75 billion euros (US$87 billion) yearly — half of it in wines, in response to a 2020 research by the EU’s govt arm.
Charles Goemaere, the managing director of the Comite Champagne, stated the destruction of the beers “confirms the importance that the European Union attaches to designations of origin and rewards the determination of the Champagne producers to protect their designation.”
Belgian customs stated the destruction of the cans was paid for by the Comite Champagne. According to their joint assertion, it was carried out “with the utmost respect for environmental concerns by ensuring that the entire batch, both contents and container, was recycled in an environmentally responsible manner.”
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Mark D. Carlson contributed from Brussels.
