For literally decades now, brewers from Michigan to Australia have tried to sneak Duff Beers — the go-to libation at Moe’s Tavern in Springfield — past the lawyers at Fox. It’s never worked, though knockoffs are still common enough, but maybe the Fox legal team is sick of having to show up in court: Fux is about to give Simpsons fans their first taste of authentic, licensed Duff Beer. Not that this is one you drink for the taste, but Fox has reportedly been consulting with a brewmaster anyway “to get the flavor just right.” The beer pours a deep amber color and mixes caramel-y notes with hints of fruit; the packaging, meanwhile, is “an exact replica of the cartoon brew.”
Jeffrey Godsick, head of Fox’s consumer-products division, explains the rationale behind finally turning the fictional brew into a “premium lager”: “Once you see enough piracy, you’re faced with two choices. One is deciding to fight it, and the other is deciding to go out [into the market] with it.”
Alas, the beer is first headed to Chile, of all places, then Europe and the rest of South America, because that’s where there’s been a near-epidemic of Duff forgeries — but the beer may yet see a release in the USA, too. Godsick sounds pretty optimistic about an eventual North American release, saying: “I think there’s potential to have Duff everywhere in the world.”
