Mountain Dew is another popular carbonated soft drink that flies under the banner of
Pepsico. The original drink may have been invented as a mixer for Bourbon Whisky, but
over the years Mountain Dew has become a mainstream favorite in the soft drink world and their
innovative flavors are part of the reason. Here are 10 Mountain Dew Flavors That Changed
The Game.
Original Citrus Mountain Dew
Where better to start than with the original, and some consider still the best, flavor of
Mountain Dew. Going back to the early 1940's, Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally
Hartman wanted to create a drink that would mix well with their beloved Bourbon. Giving
it a tongue and cheek name, Mountain Dew, which was slang for Moonshine, the drink soon
became popular as an alcoholic mixer. Interestingly enough, the brothers actually wanted a more
Orange flavor as they thought that would suit their needs more. However, the Orange Crush
company that they worked for at the time went bust so the duo headed in a different
citrus direction. It would take a few years before the public took Mountain Dew seriously,
but when they did, they really fell in love with it. There may be hundreds of flavors
on the market today, but the original Mountain Dew flavor is still considered one of the
best by the fans. Also, as it was the first, it definitely deserves a place on our list
of game changing flavors.
Mountain Dew Red & Code Red
Mountain Dew Red was the third flavor to come out of the Mountain Dew Company in 1988, after
the launch of Diet-Mountain Dew, but it was sold only in Alabama. Unfortunately, due to
its medicinal cherry tasting flavor and its lack of popularity, it was discontinued the
same year. Three years later it was replaced by a better tasting berry flavored Mountain
Dew called Code Red. It proved to be more successful, increasing sales by 6 % in the
first year. As the name suggests, it is red in color and is berry flavored. It’s also
a better tasting thirst quencher than its predecessor. The product line continues to
do well and is distributed nationally; it has also expanded into specialty markets and
can be found at the likes of Taco Bell, where it blends in with their spicy, fiery foods.
In Canada, it proved not to be so successful; it was called Code Rouge and was featured
with other Mountain Dew brand flavors, but it was discontinued in May 2019. Code Red
was released as a limited edition in many countries across the globe, and in most cases
it has shown real staying power.
Christmas Holiday Brews
In November 2017, Mountain Dew brought us the Holiday Brew. Mixing together Regular
Dew and Code Red, it was a combination between the original citrus flavors and the cherry
flavor. The new drink was leaked on YouTube during a product review in which Mountain
Dew products could be seen in the background on one of the shelves. Was this intentional
or by accident? We shall never know. The flavor, which was finally released in stores on November
6th, was only sold as a limited edition for a nine week period during the holidays. It
was discontinued at the end of the holiday season in 2017 after it's limited run. The
following year the flavor was replaced by a new drink called “The Merry Mash Up”
. This was the second time Mountain Dew mixed two flavors to create a whole new drink, this
one was also in limited release. 'The Merry Mash Up' was similar in color to the 'Holiday
Brew, but this time Mountain Dew tried a different concoction of flavors. Pomegranate and cranberry,
what could be more festive? These two new flavors have never been done before by Mountain
Dew and what better place to start than the Christmas period. Due for official release
in November 2019, we'll just have to wait and see if the 'Merry Mash Up' will be a Christmas
number one.
Voltage
In 2007 Mountain Dew began the first of several big promotions that would go on to change
everything. The first was called Dewmocracy 1, followed closely by Dewmocracy 2 in 2009.
It involved the public choosing new flavors, colors and names for their new beverages.
The public even had a say in the packaging, graphics and advertising for the new drinks.
Mountain Dew was given recognition in the industry as one of the first and longest running
examples of a company using crowdsourcing and the internet to make decisions. Conducted
via an online game and through ads that featured Forest Whitaker, they asked consumers to decide
on the next new flavor. Voters chose three brands: Voltage - a raspberry/citrus, Supernova
- strawberry/melon, and Revolution - a berry flavor. Voltage was the winning flavor, and
was released in December 2008. To this day Voltage remains the top preferred Mountain
Dew flavor by far. With it's bright blue color and fresh berry taste, Voltage also includes
ginseng for that extra kick of energy. In New Zealand it is actually called “Electro
Shock”, and in Honduras it is called “Xtreme”. Gotta love those names! As for Voltage, whenever
something has that fresh flavor of blue raspberry, its popularity is pretty much guaranteed and
a favorite choice across the board.
Typhoon
It was during the Dewmocracy 2 campaign in 2009 that Mountain Dew introduced another
three new drinks; White Out, Distortion and Typhoon. The difference between this campaign
and the previous one was the wider range of online voting methods used. This time Mountain
Dew went all out and included Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a private online forum
of die-hard Dew fans called the "Dew Lab Community”. Starting out with seven flavors, the public
had to choose just three. The three new flavors that won out were Distortion - a key lime
flavor, (which has since been discontinued,) Typhoon - a tropical punch flavor, and White
Out - a smooth-citrus flavored soda. Released in October 2010, White Out was announced the
winner. Typhoon should have been kept alive as well - all three are a tidal wave of flavor.
Typhoon tasted tropical, fruity and was pinkish-orange in color, it had kick but did not make a big
impact. In July 2011, Mountain Dew Typhoon was re-released briefly in a 2-liter bottle
and sold at Walmart, but it has since been discontinued again and will not be returning
any time soon. We all feel the loss of this one.
Taco Bell’s Mountain Dew Baja Blast
After a lot of research, and a lot of money, Mountain Dew developed a drink for Taco Bell
that was chemically formulated to complement their food’s flavor. The result was the
Baja Blast; a light blue-green colored tropical-lime-berry flavored drink. The taste of this popular
soft drink reminds us of an ocean of Margaritas, which is no bad thing! Taco Bell was given
exclusive rights for a ten-year period in which they were the only place allowed to
sell this special Mountain Dew flavor to its clients. The drink is stamped with the Taco
Bell logo and has helped increase beverage sales at Taco Bell, even though soda sales
have slumped. By Mountain Dew began selling its Baja Blast flavor at supermarkets and
retail stores across the country. Baja Blast is number two on the list of most favorite
Mountain Dew products, just behind Voltage. The reason? Probably because it is insanely
different from anything else. Because of its popular success, many other new beverages
were introduced at Taco Bell like the Sangrita Blast, a non-alcoholic sangria flavored Mountain
Dew, and a Zero Sugar Baja Blast; a diet version of the Baja Blast, minus the calories
and sugar intake. It is faithful to the original, although there may be some artificial sweetener
aftertaste, but it is smoother than most diet sodas, and hopefully a lot healthier as a
bonus.
Sangrita Blast
As we've mentioned, Sangrita Blast was a proverbial favorite and created just for Taco Bell. This
drink is the symbiosis of all that is Mexican and is a match made in heaven with the infamous
taco restaurant. After all, who doesn’t love a Sangria with their Tacos? Most of us
like our Sangria with alcohol, but this non-alcohol version proved just as popular with customers.
Sangrita Blast was exclusive to Taco Bell and released alongside Baja Blast briefly
in 2015 for the summer. It actually tastes like a citrus punch, instead of red wine,
but we can improvise here. Similar to Mountain Dew Cherry Pomegranate, it was maroon in color
and was full of summer, berry flavor. It also went particularly well with Taco Bell’s
menu. Sangrita Blast was eventually sold in retail stores that summer and they even offered
a Freeze version of the drink. They sold the drink for several years until 2017, so it
is no longer available. It was tasty while it lasted!
Supernova
First appearing as a contestant in the Dewmocracy promotion, Mountain Dew Supernova was a Strawberry-Melon
flavored drink, with a little more Ginseng for that extra boost. Unfortunately the Supernova
didn't last long but it did return for a limited time in the “Back by popular DEWmand”
promotion with Typhoon and Pitch Black in 2011. Supernova was also part of the Canadian
Dewmocracy Campaign in 2013, but it lost again to Voltage. The R & D department at Mountain
Dew can be a little wacky, especially when crazy kids are creating and mixing the flavors.
Sometimes flavors work and sometimes they don't. Incidentally, in Finland, the Supernova
launched in 2012 but it was different to the US version. The European version of the drink
was not only different in coloring but had a completely different flavor combination.
Supernova in Finland actually comes closer to the natural flavored coloring and is raspberry
flavored with a lemony orange tinge and even more bizarre, the Supernova has become a permanent
flavor in Finland, unlike the rest of the world. For a brief period in 2013, Canada
offered the Slurpee version of Supernova, since discontinued. So if you are a big fan
of Supernova, you are out of luck, unless you visit Finland.
Pitch Black
First released in 2004, Pitch Black was a limited edition drink purely for Halloween.
A year later Mountain Dew did revive it briefly and rebranded it as Pitch Black II, a zombie
drink with added sour bite. It returned with Supernova and Typhoon in 2011, but was short-lived.
However, this drink does not want to die; it came back from the grave again with the
Back by Popular DEWmand campaign to compete against Baja Blast and it won. This flavor
is a variant of black grape mixed in with regular citrus Dew. The drink looks completely
black, or dark purple in the light, hence the name Pitch Black. It was made a permanent
flavor but unfortunately Pitch-Black products have been discontinued as of this year because
of low sales. You may still be able to find them overseas in Asia and Pakistan. In Korea
it can be found under the name Wild Black, and if you are lucky, in Canada under Alerte
Noir. But considering this product has been raised from the dead before, we're sure it
won't be long until Pitch Black is 'trick or treating' once again.
Game Fuel
Now we come to a true game changer. Known with gamers worldwide, Game Fuel changed the
whole Mountain Dew scene to make it what it is today. It all started in 2007 after using
the term ‘Game Fuel” to describe Mountain Dew drinks to the gaming sub-culture. Mountain
Dew introduced a new flavor of citrus cherry with the release of the Xbox 360 game Halo
3, showing promotional artwork and featuring pics of the main character. They did the same
in 2009, when a World of Warcraft line was released. The first flavor was a citrus cherry
flavor, which was red for the Horde, and the second flavor was new wild fruit drink, which
was blue for the Alliance. It was a new way to show which side of the war for Azeroth
you were fighting for. Released again in 2011, but with a new tropical flavor for Call of
Duty’s Modern Warfare 3 game, Mountain Dew has cornered the market on gaming drinks.
Every subsequent year, with the release of new games or movies, Mountain Dew has been
at the forefront of creating new flavors for the gaming world, with special packaging and
graphics to boot. They are in limited release till the next best thing comes along. What
has remained and is synonymous with the gaming world is the Mountain Dew name and brand of
drinks.
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