Trivia is a booming genre and even though you may not play HQ any more you did at one
time, right? Well, if you have not caught up on your trivia in a bit here is a little
to keep you going! The top ten untold truths of Mountain Dew!
Mountain Dew comes from slang
Mountain Dew… Did you ever wonder how such a name came about? Well it was actually a
slang term for moonshine! It was used by Scottish and Irish people who immigrated to Appalachia.
Which is in the Eastern United States and stretches from New York to Alabama and Georgia.
When the Scottish and Irish immigrants got to the Appalachian region, they came to know
the illegally distilled corn liquor that was circulating among the people of the mountains.
This liquor, that is more commonly known as moonshine, was dubbed Mountain Dew for obvious
location reasons. It was the alcohol of the mountains! How cool! Since moonshine is a
black market product and spent no time being aged in barrels, it is basically the same
as a white whiskey. Whiskey gets its dark colour from barrel ageing. But, how did this
nickname for moonshine come to be the name of the soda we now know and love? Also, why
does it matter that moonshine is basically an un-aged whiskey? Hmmm. Let’s find out
with our next fact!
Mountain Dew was made for mixing
Totally unaware of the Mountain Dew slang term, the Hartman brothers felt that there
was a lack of mixers for alcoholic beverages. Soft drinks were becoming popular in the 1930’s
and apparently there was nothing that peaked the fancy of these brothers… so they set
out to create something new that would mix well with, you guessed it, whiskey! Apparently,
a guy named Carl E. Retzke suggested the Hartman brother’s call their mixer Mountain Dew…
though nothing is really known about this guy other than he brought up the name at an
Owens-Illinois Inc. meeting in Toledo, Ohio. Owens-Illinois Inc. is a Fortune 500 company
that specializes in glass container products. Based on this information it is safe to assume
the Hartman boys were there looking to bottle their mixer which was already produced and
were simultaneously looking for a name and some guy who had heard about the slang from
Appalachia was there and happened to suggest it and it stuck! The Hartman brother’s don’t
regret the “Mountain Dew” suggestion… that’s for sure!
The old slogan paid tribute to slang
Mountain Dew has a pretty neat back story and the name itself is full of heritage. When
the soda product called Mountain Dew was first launched, it took this rich history into consideration
and had a barefooted mountain man as its mascot. The man always had a great big smile and a
big beard. He looks like a trusting guy that you would not mind sitting down on the side
of the Appalachian Trail with to share a mixed drink! The slogan was “Ya-Hoo Mountain Dew.
It’ll tickle your innards.” In one commercial the man yelled, “Shore as shootin’, there’s
a bang in every bottle.” Doesn’t this sound like fun and make you want to go out
and buy one of these? The only problem is these bottles are not out there anymore…
However, if you do want to find them for collecting reasons you can. You can easily acquire an
old bottle that has the mountain man and the mountain range on it for under one hundred
dollars on eBay.
The original Mountain Dew tasted more like 7UP
Yup. That’s right. If those Hartman brothers went into any convenience store today to pick
up a Mountain Dew they would be shocked by its taste and probably its color too. They
may like 7Up though… The OG Mountain Dew had a lemon and lime flavor, just like 7UP.
It was also a clear liquid, once again, like 7UP. Apparently Mountain Dew did not have
any caffeine in it either. What it did have instead was mood enhancing Lithium salts.
Why mood enhancing? Well, Lithium is a drug that is now used to treat bipolar disorder.
The drug helps to stabilize mood swings, which could be interpreted as enhancing if you are
a particularly moody person. Lithium is also known to make people thirsty. This is pretty
counter intuitive if you are drinking the Lithium salts in a beverage and actually becoming
even thirstier. Or wait… maybe this is genius! The original Mountain Dew would not quench
thirst, but make you want even more, so you would buy more of the product. This is clever
on a “I want to make more money” level but not particularly on a “I want to sell
an honest product that is healthy and safe” level. Right? Either way Mountain Dew no longer
has Lithium in it, so there is no need to worry. It does have caffeine though, which
can give you a bit of a buzz.
Mountain was supposed to be really caffeinated
Mountain Dew is a drink that will get you going and give you a buzz much more than other
sodas on the market. One can of Mountain Dew is over fifty percent more caffeinated than
a can of Coca-Cola. What that means is there is about fifty five milligrams of caffeine
in one can of Mountain Dew. To put that into perspective, an eight point two ounce can
of Red Bull has eighty milligrams of caffeine. So, this is a lot of caffeine for one soda.
However, it was supposed to have even more caffeine than this! Allegedly there was one
recipe that had so much caffeine in it that the caffeine crystallized and formed what
looked like slivers of ice or fine shards of glass! Isn’t that crazy!? Since this
whole caffeine thing has been a big deal for Mountain Dew they have offered a caffeine
free option that has the same taste but less of the bang than the regular one.
Mountain Dew is banned in over one hundred countries
Say what? Really? Banned banned? Like it is illegal to have it kind of banned? Oh yes.
Mountain Dew is banned in over one hundred countries because it has some pretty iffy
ingredients. Let’s go over it all so you can really understand what you are drinking
if you drink Mountain Dew. First of all it has Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO). The problem
with this ingredient is the bromine it contains. Bromine is a toxic chemical that can cause
all kinds of health issues that we won’t get into here, but go ahead and look them
up. Apparently other soda companies have pledged to remove BVO from their drinks… so check
your cans! Now, the other reason that Mountain Dew is banned is because of the pH levels
that determine the drink's erosive potential. Mountain Dew has a pH value of 3.22. So, this
means it is very acidic and can cause some decay and erosion in the mouth and body. For
reference tap water is at about 6.7 pH. When you put this together with all of the sugar
(forty six grams per can), the rate of decay gets even higher. So now you know.
Mountain Dew does NOT cause infertility
Mountain Dew is banned in numerous places and that can be kind of scary. But, really
it isn’t as bad as all that. You may have heard online, in the playground, at work,
or on the radio that Mountain Dew causes infertility. That it reduces sperm count. Umm…. This
is not true. The reason people have been throwing around this rumor was because of the high
amount of caffeine and the yellow #5. Studies have shown that Mountain Dew does have some
negatives, but this is not one of them. The Nutrition Journal took this rumor to heart
and reviewed twenty eight studies that have been done on Mountain Dew and fertility. They
looked specifically at the different sperm measurements in drinkers of this soda and
found that there was no astonishing effect. So calm down… you can still have kids! It
will all be okay!
EDTA may be what is saving Mountain Dew
What is EDTA? Well, it is a chemical that is super hard to pronounce and it probably
is what's saving Mountain Dew from being banned everywhere. It is Ethylenediaminetetraacetic.
This is what prevents the sodium benzoate from reacting with the vitamin C that is in
the drink. If the sodium benzoate reacted with the vitamin C, it would produce benzene,
which is a known carcinogen. Carcinogens are bad because they cause cancer in living tissue.
But, the EDTA is stopping that from appearing! Yes, without this one chemical, Mountain Dew
would be a very risky thing to drink… but the EDTA is there to save the day! It is there,
stopping bad things from occurring. That should come as a relief! The manufacturers seem to
know what they are doing. I guess.
The Great Depression made is possible
Let’s go back to the original creators of Mountain Dew, the Hartman brothers. In 1927
they were part of the team that was assembling Orange Crush in Augusta. Then the Great Depression
happened. Quick historical reminder for those who have forgotten the details of this dismal
time… The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted well into the 1930s. It was all
because of the stock market crash of October twenty ninth, 1929. This day has become known
as Black Tuesday. Now, back to our Hartman brothers who were working hard in Augusta
on Orange Crush. Well… their plant suffered particularly badly and ended up filing for
bankruptcy in 1932. When this happened the brothers moved to Knoxville where they continued
to work on the Orange Crush franchise. Things were better in Tennessee and the brothers
worked hard in the plant, drinking something called “Natural Set-Up.” This was a lemon
and lime flavored soda. Since the brother’s loved the flavor so much and they wanted something
of their own to mix with whisky, they decided to use the soda making machines they had at
their disposal to create their own blend! There you have it, that is how the Great Depression
led to a product that would eventually become the Mountain Dew you know today!
Mountain Dew was originally called Personal SetUp
Before the meeting at Owens-Illinois Inc., which would give the drink the Mountain Dew
name, the Hartman brothers were calling it Personal SetUp. This is because of the drink
that inspired it was called the Natural Set-Up. The word personal replaced natural because
the soda was being brewed for personal use only. At the time, the Hartman’s used the
drink as a novelty item in their home. Popping it out if they were serving drinks for guests.
They felt special with this because it was something only they had access to. Their guests
obviously loved it and wanted some for themselves. Both brothers wanted to be moguls. Breaking
off from Orange Crush to pursue their own soda dreams was probably inevitable. The success
of their personalized version of the Natural Set-Up gave them the push they needed to bring
this great soda to the mass public! Their ideas were great. Their determination was
greater and now everyone who is a Mountain Dew drinker can actually thank the Orange
Crush plants for being the first place that Mountain Dew was made. Pretty neat huh? Though
Personal SetUp is a neat name it is nowhere near as cool as Mountain Dew. Imagine being
like “Hey, pass me a Personal SetUp!” That sounds kind of weird no? Kind of forced
even? Mountain Dew, as we remember comes from slang from the Appalachia region. The whole
story behind the name is much much more interesting than just having Personal SetUp. That being
said, everything has a history and now we know everything there is to know about the
name behind the drink! It is better to be informed! So go ahead and enjoy your Mountain
Dew! As you drink think about how crazy a history this one beverage has. It has changed
names, it has changed color, it has changed ingredients, but it has still remained popular
with the people!
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