Mountain Dew

Ally and Barney Hartman, brothers who ran a bottling company in Knoxville, TN, starting making a lithiated lemon-lime mixer for their hard liquor. They called it Mountain Dew after a term used for moonshine. In 1946 they meet Charlie Gordon of Tri-City Beverage at a convention in Gatlinburg, TN and he begins selling Mountain Dew in 1955. By this time the brand was co-owned by Tri-City Beverage and The Tip Corp. In 1960 the original flavor of the drink was altered by adding orange flavoring into mix, more sugar was added to the formula as well. During this period Mountain Dew competed with a similar drink by Pepsi Co. called Teem, but in 1962 Pepsi Co. began licensing Mountain Dew for bottling. Pepsi Co. went on to gain ownership shortly after and has remained under Pepsi Co.'s guardianship ever since.

Seen here are two bottles recently purchased. In 2008, Mountain Dew's name was shortened to simply, Mtn Dew. Although the formula has contained high-fructose corn syrup for many years, Mountain Dew Throwback was introduced in 2009 with sugar replacing the standard corn syrup. Originally, the Throwback variant was intended to be a limited release but has seen multiple short production releases since it's initial introduction. The label also features some of the earlier artwork from the brand.

Mountain Dew has never been massively infused with carbonation, nevertheless it is on par with many large production sodas, particularly those found in plastic bottles which are permeable to air over extended periods of time. Mountain Dew's flavor is a unique blend of citrus flavors with what I believe is lead by grapefruit and touched with others. Interestingly enough, I do pick up a slight difference between the standard offering and the Throwback formula. The real sugar seems to give a smoother edge to the sweetness in the drink, while the regular formula has a hint of acrid sharpness to the sweet flavor. If you can find a bottle of Throwback try a blind taste test yourself and see if you agree?

Mountain Dew Green Label

Mountain Dew has experimented with a wide range of flavors over the years, some to an extent that it boggles me how you can call it Mountain Dew if it has nothing in common since so many people associate Mountain Dew with a specific flavor profile. Green Label has been used in two different methods by Mountain Dew. In 2007 the "green label" products were a line of limited edition aluminum bottles with artwork by many artists in the motif of the "eXtreme" sports crowd they were courting in their promotions and sponsorships in those days. In 2017 however, it isn't clear if their new Green Label drink has anything to do with that marketing or if it is an off shoot of it, since Green Apple Kiwi doesn't strike me as being in the same line up as some of their "extreme" flavors like "voltage", "code red", "live wire" and "supernova". One curiosity of Mountain Dew's market spread is that of both the action sports crowd as well as video gamers who are by and large inert.

For more on the history of Mountain Dew in general, see my earlier post here. I was expecting a satisfying "pffffsshhhhh" release of carbonation when I opened the can and got none at all, making me wonder if this was even carbonated. In tasting it, I can confirm it has carbonation. It is much more apple flavored than kiwi. It's a tart apple like that of the peel of a ripe granny smith apple. The kiwi is tasted in its aftertaste. The flavor combination is not something I'm wild about and reminds me more of some of the energy drinks on the market, which is probably fitting given Mountain Dew's target market. 

Mountain Dew Kickstart Black Cherry

I try to avoid so-called "energy drinks", but sometimes there's a cross over from some of these soda brands that kind of sit on the fence. Kickstart is a line of drinks from Mountain Dew to wade themselves into the energy drink market but in many places resides among the sodas rather than on the shelves with the Red Bull's and Monster drinks. Their website lists "Dew®. Juice. Caffeine." but it only contains 5% juice. While that may be more than typical sodas, 5% isn't something I'd be crowing from the rooftops about. Are there buyers who think that means it healthy? These cans are 16oz. and the nutrition label says there are two servings per can. I can't help but wonder if they realize putting it aside to consume the second serving later means the carbonation will be gone. As far as the sugar content goes, it actually has just 19g for the entire 16oz can, which is better than original Mountain Dew at 46g for only a 12oz can. I think perhaps they are leaning on the added electrolytes and differentiated marketing as their primary separations from traditional Mountain Dew soda.

Cracking open the can I find it has very little smell, but what is there seems a bit citrus-like rather than cherry. I was not expecting this to taste anything like the citrus-forward Mountain Dew, and yet the first thing I get from it is just that. The black cherry flavoring arrives later, in the finish and aftertaste. I'd say it's almost 50/50.... more like traditional Mountain Dew until finished swallowing, then my mouth is overcome with the taste of black cherry you'd expect to be the focus. I find it to be a decent drink in terms of its flavor. While it isn't a health drink or sports drink by any means, it is healthier than regular Mountain Dew, with both fewer calories and less sugar.  

Mountain Dew Overdrive

So I'd heard rumor of a limited edition flavor from Mountain Dew only available at Casey's gas stations. I wasn't so sure about such a thing. I'd only known of Casey's in smaller towns, and usually known for the pizza they make in their locations. But a quick google search shows that there are 2,300 locations across the midwest and plains states. As luck would have it, I had the opportunity for a road trip and remembered this when seeing a roadside sign for a Casey's and decided to pull off to check it out. Lo and behold, it was true. I found a stand claiming a Casey's exclusive flavor called Overdrive, in this orange-red color and had to grab one.

The color is just a bit more orange than Code Red. The bottle doesn't actually say "Casey's" anywhere. The only clue to that might be a tiny barn image at the bottom which appears to be on a green bottle. This barn doesn't say "Casey's" but says "1968". I was quite confused at first because the font looked like it read "1%8" until I looked very closely. Still, the funny thing about that is some sites online state the company began in 1959, while Casey's own website says they began in Boone, Iowa in 1968. 

Some slight as to what the flavor might be appear on the label. Next to the orange gorilla-like creature on the label is a lime and a raspberry. Though elsewhere it says "Dew with a blast of Citrus Punch". It does, in fact, smell like a bit of regular Mountain Dew mixed with fruit punch. Unfortunately, I find the flavor lacking. It's a bit like a weaker version of Code Red. It really leaves you wanting something with a bit punchier flavor to it, a real let down considering many of the livelier flavors coming out of Mountain Dew. 

Mountain Dew SuperNova/Pitch Black

Today I'm sampling two variants of Mountain Dew. 

Mountain Dew Pitch Black was released as a limited edition in 2004 for Halloween, but re-released in 2011. It has a candy-sweet grape aroma... sweeter smelling than a plain grape soda. The label states it has a blast of black grape. I've heard of black cherries, but not black grapes. However, it is a dense grape taste very much like the difference between cherry and black cherry. I quite like it, and think it great for a Halloween party. 

Mountain Dew SuperNova was originally released as a limited edition in 2008, and also re-released in 2011. Strangely, this soda comes with a touch of ginseng added in. What their intentions were with the ginseng I don't know. It has a translucent purple coloring of a gummy worm and actually smells like a fresh gummy worm too. Now the label says its a strawberry melon flavor. The strawberry is very hard to detect, it's much more citrusy flavored and does remind me of those gummy worms I used to enjoy as a kid. It's not a bad flavor but one I would only drink a little of on any occasion.

Mountain Dew Spark

 

Another one of many Mountain Dew derivatives, Spark is described on the bottle as a raspberry lemonade. 

It does have a fruity lemonade scent. Drinking it, I can say that there isn't very much raspberry in the flavor, just a very tiny hint. It tastes like a spiked Mountain Dew at the front. Once it washes to the back of the tongue I pick up that sort of sour lemonade flavor you expect from fresh squeezed. Overall, it isn't terrible, perhaps a bit too sweet like many of the flavors Mountain Dew has tried. I wish it had a bit more carbonation though.

Mountain Dew Baja Gold

Another interesting flavor from Mountain Dew. This one, a bright yellow color, and named Baja Blast. 

This bottle has an intense sugary, candy-like odor. It's a very sweet pineapple flavor, but it's 'soda genealogy' as a descendant from Mountain Dew certainly lingers in the background. There's a tingly zest I can feel on the tongue which is reminiscent of classic Mountain Dew. Overall, I don't think it's terrible, but I tend not to want to finish drinks this cloying because they start to make me sick to my stomach after a bit. The label says, "Grab all the Baja flavors", but I didn't see any others at the store when I picked this up so I may have to hunt a little more to find them if they are still available. 

Mountain Dew White Out

In 2007, Mountain Dew, began a promotion known as DEWmocracy, in which they introduced three limited edition flavor variants for which the general public could vote on becoming a permanent addition to the Mountain Dew family. The campaign was considered a success and so DEWmocracy 2 was released in 2009. Mountain Dew White Out was the winner from the second campaign.

The smell of this soda has the faint hint of grape, and indeed, it has the taste of shaved snow cone ice with that slight grape finish. I don't think it's a bad drink, but the flavor is so lacking to me that it's sort of like drinking unflavored sugar water. I did not partake in DEWmocracy 2, but the other options must have been pretty bad to lose to a flavor that lacks so much flavor.

Mountain Dew Gingerbread Snap'd

I'm always in the mood for ginger sweets and this release from Mountain Dew seems apt for a holiday evening. I really like that strong ginger aroma it has. Feels like walking into one of those Christmas themed home décor shops. No notes on changing the amount of carbonation, but what I get from swigging this is an upfront gingerbread taste, which is nice. Unfortunately, it's followed up with a slight citrus flavor reminiscent of, what else, Mountain Dew. I'd have liked this as a straight gingerbread soda without the Mountain Dew. So it's a miss for me, disappointingly so since I had high hopes for it. Good thing I can make a great ginger snap cookie. 

Mountain Dew Dew.S.A

Mountain Dew has several flavor offerings these days. This is a new release I discovered which combines their red, white and blue flavors called Code Red, White Out and Voltage into a single flavor. For more on the history of Mountain Dew, take a look here.

It has a berry scent to it. The color is a brighter purple with a back light than the picture here suggests. There's a sharp mixed-berry flavor when it hits your tongue but the flavor dissipates over the back of the tongue. I think the mixed-berry taste is dominated by raspberry, which makes for an unusual distraction from main stream soda flavors.

Mountain Dew White Label

Mountain Dew continues its exploration of flavors with this White Label flavor blended with a citrus flavor. This flavor was released in the same time period as their Black Label and Green Label. History on the original Mountain Dew can be found in this previous post. 

It has a grapefruit-like aroma when opening. The flavor is like that of a blend of Fresca and Squirt, not unpleasant to me at all, albeit with more caffeine. Interestingly it lists white grape juice high on the list of ingredients. I think the carbonation level is just right. One of the thinks that strikes me though about this drink is the beauty of the matte white can.

Mountain Dew Kickstart Recharge Blood Orange

I recently reviewed another flavor from Mountain Dew's Kickstart lineup. This blood orange flavor, labeled "Kickstart Recharge", has now been discontinued. As far as I can discern the "recharge" aspect is maybe because this one features several antioxidants, like vitamin C, E, B6, and Niacin, not listed on the other can. There's only an inkling of citrus scent that arises from the can. For a soda, and with only 5% actual juice, it's oddly very close to the taste of orange juice. With the additional vitamins, if you were unable to have actual orange juice for some reason this would be a pretty good match for your breakfast on the go and with some caffeine to give you a bit of morning pick up. The carbonation seems decent enough. The taste is quite orange and I'm not getting much of a sense of Mountain Dew's traditional flavor blended in. Overall I'm happily surprised with the taste of this drink.

Mountain Dew Citrus Blackberry

The next Mountain Dew I have is also a tie-in with the World of Warcraft campaign mentioned in yesterday's post. Is there some sort of food flavoring fad going on right now that I've missed? I'm encountering a lot of blackberry stuff lately, both in the soda world and in other foods. I don't know if most of these companies are using real blackberries for their flavor extracts or if they are completely artificial, but a search online shows the U.S. gets most of its blackberry crops from Mexico. Will we see the end of this blackberry trend staring down the tariff trade wars in recent news?

The bottle's aroma is similar to that of a grape, not particularly "berry-like", but there's a tinge mixed in with the scent. I repeat my sentiment from yesterday's citrus cherry... they are making the most imperceptible changes to the flavor, or maybe not changing the flavor at all!, then slapping a new name on the bottle as a marketing gimmick. This bottle doesn't taste that far different from their Pitch Black. It's time for Mountain Dew to get more creative or I'll start skipping their new and limited flavor releases. 

Mountain Dew Thrashed Apple

Another flavor variation from Mountain Dew. Appropriately for autumn we have an apple flavor. I kind of enjoy the artwork they have been displaying on these flavors, though I think the whole "extreme" this and that period is very passé. This one smells like a crisp Granny Smith apple. It definitely gives that apple-cinnamon taste of a nice slice of apple pie, which is nice. But this sort of Mountain Dew blend also imbues a tiny hint of melon with a touch of citrus to it. As apple sodas go, it's not bad.  

Mountain Dew Flamin' Hot

Here we go again from Mountain Dew. Obviously I had to get this to review it, but I'm not a fan of spicy foods and drinks. I can't even imagine tasting Flamin' Hot Cheetos, yuck. I know that probably offends some of their fans out there who are probably pooping red from them as you read this. 

Well it doesn't smell much different than classic Mountain Dew. There's no taste of ginger or cinnamon, and I can't see an ingredient that spells out what they've added, but sure enough there's a heat that warms the through and back of the mouth from this. It kind of boggles my mind why anyone would enjoy drinking this even if you like spicy foods, but there it is. 

 

Mountain Dew Black Label

With this can, we can close the door on the hat trick of the White Label, Green Label, and Black Label series from Mountain Dew. Seeing as Mountain Dew has not been shying away from experimenting with many different flavors as of late, I'm unsure why this three flavor series was packaged so differently. They list them as "crafted" as if they are attempting to attract a more artisanal customer with these, but the ingredients are nothing special. Maybe the tall-boy cans common among energy drinks is trying to straddle the line between the two?

The smell from the can is very faint, but a little bit like berry, which the can describes as the flavor. However, my mind keeps seeing this black can and almost wants it to be a black licorice flavor out of my sheer curiosity of what that might taste like in a soda. The drink is dark purple in color, and the taste is like a raspberry and blueberry lemonade. There is not a strong sour bite, but it does seem a tiny bit like lemon. Half way through the ingredients, orange juice concentrate is listed. This is probably what is adding that twinge of citrus flavor. I'd give this a middling grade. It's a decent drink but might benefit from more carbonation. It's a decent flavor to mix up your day if you're looking for something a little different. 

Mountain Dew Fruit Quake

A surprise pickup last week from the grocery store was this bottle, yet another Mountain Dew flavor variation and makes me feel like this blog has nearly been taken over by Mountain Dew's varietal flavor releases. Trust me when I say, I'm planning to get back to other labels here quickly. This is another holiday themed creation, which by the name and label design I can assume is given flavors like that of a holiday fruit cake. I like the cranberry coloring of the drink itself. 

The scent is a little hard to place. It has notes of cherry and grape and something else sweet almost like a licorice but not licorice, maybe gummy bear-like. It's certainly an explosion of tastes. A quick swig has my taste buds all over the place. I do get a cherry-like flavor, a touch of lemon, and I'm picturing those white grape gummy candies in that order as it crosses my palate. No real taste of anything close to a bread, though these fruity/candy-like flavors start a little dark and heavy and become lighter as it finishes in the mouth. It's a perplexing flavor combination I'd recommend trying just for the novelty. 

Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus Zero

This new flavor from Mountain Dew is available in both regular and zero sugar versions. I was only able to secure this bottle of the zero sugar version yesterday. Despite having zero sugar, the bottle still lists 5 calories per serving and still contains caffeine. It has a sort of orange red color reminiscent of gummy worms. When I opened the bottle there was a nice crack of released air and it actually smelled like candy gummy worms. It has a standard amount of carbonation for a Mountain Dew soda. The taste comes across as orange-citrus at first then a taste I would describe as Live Wire blended with cough syrup. Finally, there's a lime flavored finish. I think the non-sugar sweetener affects the flavor too much and would probably be better with the full sugar version. It's not undrinkable but isn't great either. 

Mountain Dew Ice

Another variation out of the lab at Mountain Dew. Labeled lemon-lime, it smells quite a lot like a typical lemon-lime soda, like you might expect from Sprite. There's a normal amount of carbonation for a two-liter bottle, but like many two-liters I find they often have less carbonation than smaller bottles and cans. With a word like 'ice' in the name I was expecting some of that frosty, almost lemon and mint, flavor many other beverages that use the term 'ice' have. Unfortunately, I'm not tasting that. It's a bit syrupy for my liking, but I expected stronger, bolder flavors from Mountain Dew and this particular bottle doesn't have it. I'd recommend skipping this one. 

Kickapoo Joy Juice

Kickapoo Joy Juice is citrus soft drink inspired by the nickname given to moonshine in Al Capp's Lil' Abner comic strips. The comic strip, which ran from 1934 to 1977, featured the misadventures of Lil' Abner and a town of hillbillies from the imaginary Dogpatch, Kentucky.

There seems to be some question as to who developed the drink first, since my research shows claims made by both NuGrape and the Monarch Beverage Company. However, the drink was introduced in 1965 and is a non-alcoholic soda, much the same way that Mountain Dew, also a euphemism for moonshine, is. Either way the NuGrape company as well as others were bought over the years to bring them under the current umbrella of products from Monarch Beverage Company.

There is a light sediment in the bottle similar to some other citrus soft drinks, I would assume this is from the concentrated grapefruit juice listed on the bottle. It's hard to describe flavors such as this one which are such a blend of real world citrus fruits that it has really become it's own flavor. The the aroma is similar to the more main stream Mountain Dew, I think the flavor is more subdued... not as bold as Mountain Dew and has more of a grapefruit highlight to it.