Did you know that Mountain Dew was first advertised as a drink for backwoods hillbillies who don’t wear shoes and sit around drinking whiskey all day? And it kept that image for many years? Well, kick off your shoes, slap on yer overalls. Today we are trying out a bunch of flavors of Mtn Dew! YEEHAW!
Which Mtn Dew flavors are we trying today?
Original Mtn Dew
Flamin’ Hot
Baja Mango Gem
Overdrive
Baja Gold
Who is on this hillbilly quest?
Hannah, her teeth are actively falling out.
Nate, wants to see a giant woman.
Matt, over surged.
Amy, heeeeey Lonnie!
And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE!
The History of Mtn Dew
The Mountain Dew story starts in the 1930s with Brothers Barney and Ally (Olly) Hartman. These Georgia boys had their own Orange Crush bottling plant that failed in 1932, making them decide to uproot their lives to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they would run a bottling plant for beer and Pepsi Cola. At the time, the brothers were looking for a lemon-lime soda that they could use as a mix in with their whisky. Not finding anything, they decided to make one themselves. The concoction they mixed up was the world’s first Mountain Dew. They jokingly called it Mountain Dew, a nickname for moonshine, and printed up labels with a hillbilly on the front. And at first, they only bottled the drink for their own consumption, not going public with the drink until 1946.
When the boys did go public with the soda, it was not a hit. They even branded their soda as an Appalachian thirst quencher, gave it slogans like “ya-hooo!” and “it’ll tickle your innards.” They sold the drink in green bottles, anything that would help grab the public’s attention. Nothing seemed to really work.
In 1958, the Tri-City Beverage Company bought the soda. They liked the hillbilly-theming and thought they could run with it. Bill Bridgeforth took over the business and concocted a lemonade soda called Tri-City Lemonade. Combining the lemonade and the Mountain Dew brand and theming proved to be the answer to the lackluster sales. The “new” soda was a hit.
After years of success the brand was bought by the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1964.
In 1973 Pepsi ditched the hillbilly theming and changed the logo to appeal to a younger, outdoorsy generation. They also added orange flavoring and changed it to the neon-green coloring we all think about when we hear Mountain Dew.
Fast forward to the 90s. The marketing was stitched to target extreme sports. They also made a major branding change, eliminating all the vowels from Mountain, to become Mtn Dew. And in the 2000s the company started exploring with different flavors of Mtn Dew. In 2004, Mtn Dew and Taco Bell developed Baja Blast, exclusive to Taco Bell. It was a major hit and eventual would be available on store shelves.
Today Mountain Dew has a ton of different flavors
Baja Blast
Baja Mango Gem
Baja Gold
Typhoon
Flamin’ Hot
Spark
Major Melon
Code Red
LiveWire
Voltage
You can even get Mtn Dew alcoholic beverages now, but we will save those for another quest.
The Results
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet!
5th Place: Flamin’ Hot
Amy - 2
Hannah - 1
Matt - 2
Nate - 2
4th Place: Baja Gold
Amy - 3
Hannah - 2
Matt - 3
Nate - 1
3rd Place: Overdrive
Amy - 4
Hannah - 6
Matt - 3
Nate - 3
1st/2nd Place (TIE!): Baja Mango Gem
Amy - 3
Hannah - 4
Matt - 5
Nate - 5
1st/2nd Place (TIE!): Original Mtn Dew
Amy - 5
Hannah - 5
Matt - 3
Nate - 4
There you have it. Original Mtn Dew and Baja Mango Gem receive the Quest for the Best seal of approval.
Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Have you tried all these Dorito flavors? We would love to hear your rating as well.
Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next.
And of course, remember to subscribe to hear the latest episodes. Additionally, paid subscribers will have access to monthly content where we put two restaurants head to head in a Quest for the Best battle. You definitely do not want to miss out.
SHOW NOTES:
https://www.southernthing.com/mountain-dew-history-2646712730.html
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/history-of-mountain-dew-origin-facts
It'll tickle yer innards!