RACINE, Wis. -- The battle of the beers took a new twist in Racine this week when a Miller beer distributor fired an employee whose picture was in the paper. He was drinking a Bud Light.

Competition between Miller Brewing and Budweiser has never been hotter, according to WISN-TV in Milwaukee.

Anheuser-Busch may have three times the market share of Miller, but Miller is the hometown brew.

"This is what happens when you drink a great beer," former C.J.W. employee Isac Aguero said.

Last Saturday night in Racine at the Mardi Crawl on Main Street, a newspaper photographer asked a group of revelers to pose for a picture. The only problem was that a man holding a Bud Light worked for a Miller distributor.

"I was just having a good time," Aguero said.

Aguero said when he went to work on the day his picture hit the paper, the place was abuzz.

"When I came in, they said, 'You're in trouble for drinking Bud Light,'" Aguero said.

Then, his boss gave him the ax.

"I asked him to tell me the reason why I'm fired, and he was like, 'There's no reason. We just don't need you no more,'" Aguero said.

To Aguero, the reason was as clear as his picture in the Racine Journal Times.

Aguero's boss wasn't in, but off-camera, a C.J.W. employee would not discuss personnel issues, but said the company does not tell its workers what to drink.

C.J.W'.s employee handbook doesn't directly address drinking the competition.

"It's my choice of beer. Who can tell you what to drink or not to drink? What you like?" Aguero asked.

Aguero is supporting two young sons so he's on the job hunt, but he's trying to keep his sense of humor.

"I was actually thinking I was going to go apply at Anheuser-Busch," Aguero said.

To Aguero, the whole incident makes no sense.

"It's like saying you work at Pepsi and you get caught drinking a Coke, are you fired for that?" Aguero asked.

"I'm not sure. I mean, I guess so. I got fired for Bud Light," Aguero said.

Two years ago, a truck driver for Coca-Cola lost his job after he was spotted chugging a Pepsi.

For its part, Miller Brewing said its distributors are independent businesses with their own policies -- that Miller has no formal policy on this issue.