Posted in: Comics | Tagged: duff beer, entertainment, simpsons

Booze Geek News Special: Duff Beer To Launch Across The USA

Published Tue, 01 Jul 2014 11:00:06 -0500

From the Licensing Expo last week…

Based on the fictional brand in The Simpsons cartoon, Duff Beer has been brewed both officially and unofficially.

Duff's Famous Wings in Buffalo, New York still their own form of Duff's beer on tap and also sell Duff Beer not as a beer, but as an energy drink. Bilbo's pizza and brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan also brewed their own form of Duff beer, which had a Homer Simpson tap handle to complete the reference. But no longer. Universal Studios Florida began offering Duff Beer in their expanded Springfield area at a replica of Moe's Tavern and a waterfront Duff Brewery. But none of these have been distributed at all.

In Germany, a brewery in Hessen, brews a Duff Beer distributed in many European countries and in Australia from 2011. They applied for a trademark in Europe but were successfully opposed by Fox. Fox tried to establish their own Duff Beer trademark in Europe, but were ruled that a "Beer" logo applied exclusively to non-beer merchandise was misleading. But as a result of the German brand, in France they now have to blur out the "Duff" beer in the Simpsons cartoon so as not to advertise it.

In Australia, the Lion Nathan brewery in Australia produced a beer called Duff. Fox brought legal action against the company and the beer was pulled from shelves and destroyed. One bottle sold in auction for $13,000.

In Mexico, Rodrigo Contreras registered the "Duff" trademark, and designed the bottle to be identical to the one portrayed on The Simpsons. The Mexican Duff has spread to other countries in Latin-America. In Chile, police seized 60,000 bottles of Duff beer following a complaint from Fox and there are continuing legal battles.

But now it appears that one brand of Duff, though I have no idea which one, will be on sale across the USA and official licensed by Fox. Here is the German version below, alongside the Simpsons original…