USA: After finishing a bottle of Miller Lite, a part-time municipal judge in Missouri discovered a small mouse at the bottom, he said recently. But Miller Brewing Co. said it was impossible for a rodent to have gone through the brewing process, which includes pasteurization, without badly spoiling the beer. The low-carb lager was produced in Fort Worth. "It's not uncommon for any consumer products company to receive similar complaints," said Mike Hennick of Miller. "After analysis, it almost always turns out it didn't happen in one of our breweries."

Randy Anglen, 46, of Hollister, which is near Branson, said the beer did not taste unusual. After drinking most of the Miller Lite, he left it standing open for hours on a kitchen counter, then finished it. His wife remained in the room, and there have been no mouse sightings in his house, he said.

He contacted Miller after the May 25 incident but rejected its suggestion that he ship the mouse, bottle and packaging to its headquarters in Milwaukee. "The mouse would be exhibit 'A' if it ever goes to court," he said. Instead, he sent it to William Jackson, a rodent contamination expert at Ohio's Bowling Green State University, whom the brewing giant recommended.

Jackson said that he was still gathering material and had reached no conclusions, not even the species of mouse.

The episode was recounted recently in the local newspaper, the Springfield News-Leader, in some depth.

Anglen, who has received a "combination of ribbing and empathy" from friends, said he is not trying to shake Miller down.

"I don't want to convey I want to get money," said Anglen, who has a general legal practice and deals with misdemeanor felonies as a six-term municipal court judge. "I will hear what Miller has in mind to resolve this. I suffered a horrifying experience, which I would gladly have paid not to have undergone."