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Can't get enough of that wonderful Duff!
―the Duff Beer slogan

Duff Beer is the most popular brand of beer in Springfield. It is Homer's favorite beer and is enthusiastically promoted by Duffman, the company's mascot.

Duff

Duff

The quality of Duff appears to be standard for mass quantity supply beer. Strict regulations are supposedly maintained at Quality Assurance. Such a foothold for good supply may be the only filter as portions of Duff Beer contaminated by rats, body parts and even Hitler's head have been spotted.

Duff was endorsed during the Kennedy/Nixon debates by Kennedy, an idea that was then stolen by Nixon when he also tried to declare his support for 'that particular beer (which no one believed for a moment).

Duff original design

Duff's design in its first appearance

Homer had even been buying it in the past, back when he was 17 years old, but using a fake ID. He even sang about it in "Duffless" episode with the short sad song called "It Was a Very Good Beer".

Variations of Duff[]

Duff's equivalent in Shelbyville, the "Bizarro-world" version of Springfield, is Fudd Beer. The label for Fudd is notably Duff with the letters D and F being transposed.

In the Family Guy episode "The Simpsons Guy", it is revealed that Peter Griffin's favorite beer, "Pawtucket Patriot Ale", is just Duff with a different label on it. (This is a satire of how critics of Family Guy compare it to the similar Simpsons.) Homer complains that it's a "rip-off" that's "the same...but worse". Peter defends it, saying "...It may have been inspired by Duff, but I like to think it takes it in a different direction..."

Moe once tried to sell Homer a can of "Düff", or Swedish Duff (a fake beer that Moe made up by himself by adding the umlaut with magic marker). This is not to be confused with "Scandinavian Düff, The Beer of Danish Kings".[1] He also offered "Malaysian Duff",[2] which was made of soy sauce. In "Mayored to the Mob", in order to call off a mandatory health inspection, Moe offers Mayor Quimby a Duffenbraü, the higher-quality "semi-imported" version of Duff, on the house. When Bart, Lisa and Aunt Selma visit Duff Gardens[3] the gift shop sells Duff Beer Goggles that let you see and hear everything like a drunk. When Bart puts them on, they make Aunt Selma look and sound more attractive.

When Homer tours the Duff Brewery in "Duffless", a pipeline is seen splitting freshly-brewed beer into the Duff, Duff Dry and Duff Lite tanks, implying they are the same beer with different labels. The tasting room features a cask of Duff Dark and Barney mentions Raspberry Flavored Duff, Tartar-Controlled Duff, and Lady Duff[4][5]). Duff tie-in products include a Duff Beer Suitcase,[6] Duff "Gummy Beers" candy, and Duff Beer Calendars.

Duff lite & dry

In "Bart to the Future", a grown-up Bart is seen drinking a Future Duff Beer. It's the same can with the Duff logo inset with little flashing lights. There are also Virtual Reality Virtual Duff[7] and Holographic Duff Holo.[8]

In "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" Springfield briefly introduces prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol due to Bart getting drunk at the St. Patrick's Day parade, so Duff introduces Duff Zero, a completely alcohol-free variant with all the taste and flavor of regular Duff. This is not successful, as customers only drank Duff for its cheap alcohol content, so the local Duff brewery quickly goes out of business. Later the Billboard gag in the episode "American History X-cellent" features an ad for Duff 200, made of pure 200-proof grain alcohol, with the slogan "NOTHIN' BUT BOOZE". Then there is Duff Numb for the chronically depressed, which contains all the alcohol without any of the flavor.[9]

When Homer, Mr. Burns and Smithers flee to Cuba in "The Trouble with Trillions", there is an advertisement for a Cuban beer called El Duffo. It shows the famous headshot of Ernesto "Che" Guevara except he is holding a can of El Duffo. The beer's slogan El Duffo o Muerte ("Duff or Death!") is a parody of Guevara's famous revolutionary phrase, "Patria o Muerte" ("Motherland or Death").

In "The War of Art", Homer offers Kirk a bottle of Canadian Duff (or Le Duff avec Codeine on the label in French), which is laced with cough medicine. The label on the bottle's neck has a picture of Canadian Duffman wearing a Mountie uniform and saying his catch phrase in both English ("Oh Yeeeeah!") and French ("Mais Oui!").

In "What to Expect When Bart's Expecting", the end-credits show a commercial for the new 7-Pack Duff. This has three slogans: "One More For The Road", "There's Nothing Symmetrical About Flavor" (showing a tottering pile of 7 Packs), and (Duffman flexing all seven of his mutant abdominal muscles) "It Looks Wrong, But Is Oh So Right!"

Other Versions[]

  • Duff Lite[10]
  • Duff Dry[11]
  • Duff Dark[12]
  • Duff Draft - Duff in a keg.
  • Duff Lager
  • Duff Stout, "The beer that made Ireland famous".[13].
  • Tartar Control Duff[14]
  • Duff (now with Calcium)[15]
  • Lady Duff [16]
  • Duff Ice[17]
  • Duff Extra Cold[18]
  • Duff Microbrew
  • Duff Blue Ribbon (a parody of Pabst Blue Ribbon)[19]
  • Duff Platinum, the most expensive beer Moe's Tavern serves[20]
  • Duff Special Reserve
  • Henry K. Duff's Private Reserve[21]
  • Duff Adequate[22]
  • Duff Swill[23]
  • Duff Intestinal Rough[24]
  • Duff Blue - "Taste the Peppermint Glacier"; the same beer except it comes in a blue can.[25]
  • Duff Red - the same beer except it comes in a red can.
  • Duff Tall - which comes in long-necked bottles.
  • Duff High-Extra Beer - which comes in high-volume "Tallboy" cans.
  • Duff Out of Control
  • Duff Tropical
  • Raspberry Duff[26]
  • Duff Peanut Butter Lager (Extra Chunky)[27]
  • Duff's Double-Dunkin' Breakfast Lager
  • Duff Christmas Ale, Duff Gingerbread[28], and Duff Tinsel[29] - seasonal holiday versions of Duff.
  • Duff Sangre de los Muertos, which is only sold in Mexico[30]
  • Duff Gordo (it is the same beer, except it comes in a bottle with a green label)[31]
  • Duff Amber Fire-Brewed Barley Export, which is only sold in Canada.
  • Canadian Duff (or Le Duff avec Codeine)[32]
  • Duff Giant
  • Duff Gold
  • Duff Old Fashioned[33]

There's also Duff Malt, a malt-liquor beverage, and Duff Champagne[34], a reasonably-priced sparkling white wine.

Behind the Laughter[]

It has become one of the trademarks of the show appearing in merchandise, popular culture and adverts.

Possible inspiration[]

The word "duff" is common English slang for "useless" or "broken" (it can also mean pregnant, in the phrase "up the duff"). Like many other countries, discerning beer-drinkers often characterize popular domestic brews in a pejorative way (American criticize Budweiser, Australians discount Fosters, Victoria Bitter et cetera) as being mass-market swill. Clearly, the character of Homer represents the typical mindless drone who would drink whatever beer was marketed most heavily, regardless of quality, as satire of undiscriminating beer drinkers who routinely purchase "popular" (read: heavily advertised) beer.

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan (who in the early days of Guns N' Roses was known as Duff "The King Of Beers" McKagan) has claimed in his autobiography that Duff was named after him. However, people who work at the show scoff at the claim, calling it "absurd."

According to David Silverman, the single factor behind the name Duff is that it rhymes with "enough"; the idea for the slogan "Can't get enough of that wonderful Duff" actually came first.

Similarities to Budweiser[]

Duff has been likened to Budweiser beer.[35]

  • Budweiser has used a cartoon spokesperson named "Budman", who is similar to Duff's Duffman.[36]
  • Budweiser used a real dog called Spuds MacKenzie as a mascot to promote Bud Light. In the episode "Old Yeller-Belly", the Simpson's dog, Santa's Little Helper becomes Duff's mascot under the name Suds McDuff.
  • Like Duff's, the Budweiser logo has violet diagonal areas above the product's name.[37]
  • Duff is the corporate sponsor to a stadium and an amusement park which parallels Budweiser's corporate parent, Anheuser-Busch with Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Busch Gardens.
  • During the Super Bowl in the episode "Lisa the Greek", Duff has an advertisement where Duff Lite and Duff Dry play in the Duff Bowl, which is analogous to Budweiser's Bud Bowl.

Real Duff beers[]

Duffbeer

Duff energy drinks as seen at the Kwik-E-Mart in Universal Studios California

In the late 1990s, the Lion Nathan brewery in Australia produced an unrelated beer called "Duff Beer". 20th Century Fox brought legal action against the company. The product was ordered to be pulled off store shelves and destroyed, becoming a collector's item in the process.

Duff beer orlando

Universal Studios Orlando

In 2013 when Universal Studios Orlando transformed the area around The Simpsons Ride into a Springfield themed area, Duff Beer was officially brewed as an exclusive drink for the area, appearing in regular, Duff Lite and Duff Dry variants and served at Moe's Tavern and a Duff Brewery beer garden.

Duff Beer Distribution was first set up in early 2011 in the UK, specializing in the import and distribution of The Legendary Duff Beer - See more at: http://www.duffbeer.co.uk/about-us/#sthash.gVWnE2Lb.dpuf

Duff Scam[]

As reported on the T.V. show Inside Edition, there was a scam in 2004 where an Australian woman was trying to sell Duff beer similar to the one on The Simpsons (in which the can had the same logo as the can on the show). She went to court to sue the person who sold it to her but the case was thrown out by the judge a few days later.

Official licensed release in Chile[]

Fox announced plans to sell Duff Beer in Chile with the goal of rolling out the Simpsons inspired product in Europe and other parts of South America.[38]

See also[]

Appearances[]

Incomplete This article or section is incomplete.

Please improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Note: Most episodes featuring Moe's Tavern feature labels advertising for Duff Beer. For those appearances, see the appearances section of the Moe's Tavern article.

Joystick Video gameThe Simpsons Game

Joystick Video gameThe Simpsons: Tapped Out

Citations[]

  1. "Duffless", shown on a poster on the wall when they walk down a corridor. This is used in the European version and is a reference to Carlsberg beer.
  2. "Homer the Moe"
  3. "Selma's Choice"
  4. A novelty bottle-opener from the FOX giftshop was in the form of a bottle of Lady Duff, with the same orange label but decorated with eight-pointed pink flowers. The logo text was in silver lettering with the word "Lady" in copperplate cursive.
  5. In My Big Fat Geek Wedding, cardboard boxes of Lady Duff - which are pink with a metallic magenta border - are shown.
  6. A "Beer Suitcase" is slang for a cardboard case of beer with a loop handle on one side, like a 24-pack. Duff's example is an actual suitcase-shaped container with a drinking tube.
  7. "Holidays of Future Passed"
  8. "Simpsorama"
  9. "The Nightmare After Krustmas"
  10. "Duffless"
  11. "Duffless"
  12. "Duffless"
  13. "The Great Louse Detective". A reference to both Guinness, the famous Irish stout, and Schlitz beer, "The beer that made Milwaukee famous".
  14. "Duffless"
  15. Simpsons Mania! trading cards, Card #55 (InkWorks 2001).
  16. First mentioned in "Duffless, first seen in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"
  17. Bart Simpson Comics 23, Kwik-E-Bart - a stand-in for Coors Light, with a similar light-blue box with a mountain range on it.
  18. Mentioned in The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (Season 9, Episode 1)
  19. The Simpsons: Tapped Out, "The Day the Earth Stood Cool" promotional event
  20. "The Fabulous Faker Boy"
  21. Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk
  22. A Tree Grows in Springfield The most average beer that Moe sells.
  23. The Fabulous Faker Boy
  24. Yolo
  25. Mentioned in Old Yeller Belly (Season 14, Episode 19)
  26. Duffless
  27. The Marge Book, p11. - Homer’s favorite beer. Marge has to go out of state to buy it, because it was discontinued in Springfield.
  28. 'Tisn't the Season, "The Simpsons Winter Wingding 7"; Yippee Ki-Yay, Mr. Flanders, "The Simpsons Winter Wingding 10"
  29. 'Tisn't the Season, "The Simpsons Winter Wingding 7"
  30. "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches". Sangre de los Muertos means "Blood of the Dead" in Spanish.
  31. "The Clown Stays in the Picture". Gordo means "Fat" in Spanish. Homer drinks it during the 1970s while working in Mexico as a production assistant on Krusty's space opera movie Sands of Space.
  32. "The War of Art"
  33. "Let's Go Fly a Coot". Grandpa Simpson and Homer share a bottle. The label has a different font and a smaller "vee" at the top.
  34. "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind". Duffman calls it "The Beer of Champagnes", a parody of Miller High Life's slogan "The Champagne of Beers".
  35. "Advertising of America's Beer Companies and the Duff Corporation", The Simpsons Archive
  36. August A. Busch & Co. of MA, Inc.
  37. Budweiser official page
  38. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/simpsons-start-selling-real-life-duff-beer-article-1.2290618
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