@Mark,
Duff beer is going to be sold in (real life) stores.(Ha,Ha)
http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/the-...f-beer-20150712Duff Beer, Homer Simpson's beverage of choice on The Simpsons, might soon be heading to real life coolers. The long-running show's media company, 21st Century Fox, has given the yellow thumbs up to brew an actual, officially licensed Duff Beer. However, as of now, the drink will only be available in Chile, the Wall Street Journal reports, though a worldwide release is being considered.
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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 company's lawyers have been successful in swatting down brewers hoping to capitalize on The Simpsons' worldwide recognition, because Duff doesn't actually exist in real life, 21st Century Fox have had trouble protecting the fictional beer's copyright in some countries, like Chile.
In that South American country, plenty of bootlegged Duff crept into the marketplace, and although 21st 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 company's opinion on the matter. "Once you see enough piracy, you are faced with two choices," Jeffrey Godsick, president of 21st Century Fox's 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 show's themed areas at Universal Studios parks in Orlando and Los Angeles. However, given The Simpsons' success, "I think there's 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 Man won't accompany the product into the real world.
On numerous occasions on The Simpsons, the series has joked about the questionable quality 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 McKagan's 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 it's fine.”
