Duff Beer, Homer Simpsons beverage of choice on The Simpsons, might soon be heading to real life coolers. The long-running shows media company, 21st Century Fox, has given the yellow thumbs up tobrew an actual, officially licensed Duff Beer. However, as of now, the drink willonly be available in Chile, the Wall Street Journal reports, though a worldwide release is being considered.
Although Homer has been sipping on Duff for over a quarter-century, 21st Century Fox only decided to go into the beer business after countless Duff counterfeits popped up throughout Europe, South America and Mexico. While the companys lawyers have been successful in swatting down brewers hoping to capitalize on The Simpsons worldwide recognition, because Duff doesnt actually exist in real life, 21st Century Fox have had trouble protecting the fictional beers copyright in some countries, like Chile.
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In that South American country, plenty of bootlegged Duff crept into the marketplace, and although21st Century Fox filed an intellectual property complaint against those brewers, resulting in thousands of seized bottles, the demand for more Duff resulted in other bootleggers popping up in Colombia and Mexico. Rather than continue battling the copycats, 21st Century Fox instead decided to brew their own officially licensed product.
In 1996, an Australian company attempted to legally license the Duff brand but was rebuffed because a Simpsons-branded beer was viewed as detrimental to children. The outbreak of bootlegged Duff, however, has changed the companys opinion on the matter. Once you see enough piracy, you are faced with two choices, Jeffrey Godsick, president of 21st Century Foxs consumer products division, told the Wall Street Journal. One is deciding to fight it, and the other is deciding to go out [into the market] with it.
Unfortunately for American Simpsons fans, the only place to drink a Duff currently is at the shows themed areas at Universal Studios parks in Orlando and Los Angeles. However, given The Simpsons success, I think theres potential to have Duff everywhere in the world, Godsick said, adding that the beer would be packaged without any mention of The Simpsons or a Homer Simpson endorsement. Sadly, that likely means Duff Manwont accompany the product into the real world.
On numerous occasions on The Simpsons, the series has joked about the questionablequality of the fictional Duff. In reality, however, British brewmaster Paul Farnsworth created a recipe for Duff that will make the beverage a premium lager with a caramel aromatic.
In 2012, Guns N Roses Duff McKagan revealed that his name was the inspiration behind The Simpsons beer.Producers even sought McKagans permission before using the name, and the bassist allowed it without asking for anything in return. I knew nothing about branding yourself then or the royalties off it, McKagan told The Independent. I just thought cool, they wanna use my name and boom, The Simpsons was born. Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time but its fine.