For years, Miller High Life has used the “Champagne of Beers” slogan. This week, that appropriation became impossible to swallow.

At the request of the trade body defending the interests of houses and growers of the northeastern French sparkling wine, Belgian customs crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as such.

The Comité Champagne asked for the destruction of a shipment of 2,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto used by the American brewery infringes the protected designation of origin “Champagne.”

[Qu’est-ce que c’est, Belgians? (That’s the closest French I have for WTF.) They aren’t claiming to be champagne, but just a premium beer. The French pretense over the use of “Champagne” is tiresome anyway, but this is untethered to any reason at all. — Ed]