--- title: Simpsons Writer Reveals the True Origin Story of Duff Beer description: 'Simpsons' writer Mike Reiss has an explanation for Duff Beer — and it doesn't have to do with the musician who says it was named after him. canonical: https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-12T17:01:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:23.241Z og:title: A Simpsons Writer Is Clearing Up the Origin of "Duff Beer" og:description: Homer's favorite beer has a different back story than you might expect og:url: https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb67611be983995d7/69885a80cd6848322f0a0c18/simpsons-duff-beer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4800 og:image:height: 2700 og:image:alt: the simpsons duff beer homer og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Simpsons Writer Is Clearing Up the Origin of "Duff Beer" twitter:description: Homer's favorite beer has a different back story than you might expect twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb67611be983995d7/69885a80cd6848322f0a0c18/simpsons-duff-beer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Let a _Simpsons_ Writer Tell You the True Origin Story of Duff Beer > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 12, 2018 5:01 PM UTC  THE SIMPSONS, (from left): H.K. Duff (guest voice Stacy Keach), Homer Simpson, 'Waiting For Duffman', (Season 26, ep. 2617, aired March 15, 2015). TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./courtesy Everett Collection THE SIMPSONS, (from left): H.K. Duff (guest voice Stacy Keach), Homer Simpson, 'Waiting For Duffman', (Season 26, ep. 2617, aired March 15, 2015). TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 12, 2018 5:01 PM UTC At last _Simpsons_ fans know how Duff beer became Duff beer. In his new book [_Springfield Confidential_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062748033/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062748033&linkId=b92d353631f68e880f1a78bba9800026), longtime writer, producer and prior showrunner of [_The Simpsons_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GWXYFQ/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B004GWXYFQ&linkId=94ee86f5f9c24953f13ff5c1acdabca9) Mike Reiss dispenses plenty of inside information on the longest-running network television show in America. Some of that intel includes the back stories on a number of character names — and product names. There’s been a myth circulating that Duff Beer, Homer Simpson’s favorite cold one, is named after Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, based on[ McKagan’s own statements](http://loudwire.com/simpsons-duff-beer-inspired-by-duff-mckagan/) on the matter in his memoir [_It’s So Easy: And Other Lies_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451606648/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1451606648&linkId=7bf0c7e0412c6650de9c840b358781c1)_._ But as Reiss now notes, maybe we should be paying more attention to the title of that book to begin with, because the beer name doesn’t actually have anything to do with the musician after all. Instead, his claim is just a “cute fake story.” **“**We needed a name for Homer’s favorite beer, and Jay Kogen came up with Duff,” Reiss writes in a piece excerpted by [_Entertainment Weekly,_](http://ew.com/books/the-simpsons-springfield-confidential-excerpt/#whats-in-a-name) referencing fellow former _Simpsons_ producer [Kogen](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0463124/). “No, it was _not_ named after Duff McKagan, bassist for Guns N’ Roses; we’d never heard of this guy. Have you? McKagan loves to claim we called him and asked to use his name: ‘I knew nothing about branding yourself then or the royalties off it. 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.’” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/"},"headline":"Let a Simpsons Writer Tell You the True Origin Story of Duff Beer","datePublished":"2018-06-12T17:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:23.241Z","description":"Sorry, Duff McKagan","url":"https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb67611be983995d7/69885a80cd6848322f0a0c18/simpsons-duff-beer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb67611be983995d7/69885a80cd6848322f0a0c18/simpsons-duff-beer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"the simpsons duff beer homer","caption":"the simpsons duff beer homer","creditText":"Everett Collection","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5310066/duff-beer-origin/","name":"Let a Simpsons Writer Tell You the True Origin Story of Duff Beer"}}]}] ```