Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew (literally "Mountain Dew" and sometimes abbreviated as Mtn Dew) is a citrus soft drink manufactured by the PepsiCo company. It was initially promoted in 1948 only in the state of North Carolina, in the United States. Since 1964 he did it throughout that country. Its name comes from Mountain View, one of the best-known cities in California.

Origin

Tennessee bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman developed Mountain Dew as a mixer in the 1940s.

Soft drinks were sold regionally in the 1930s, and the Hartmans had difficulty in Knoxville obtaining their preferred soft drink to mix with liquor, preferably whiskey, so the two developed their own. Originally a 19th century slang term for whiskey, especially Highland Scotch whiskey, the name Mountain Dew was trademarked as brand name for the soft drink in 1948. Charles Gordon, who had partnered with William Swartz to bottle and promote Dr. Enuf, was introduced to Mountain Dew when he met the Hartman brothers on a train and was offered a sample. Gordon and the Hartman brothers subsequently made a deal to bottle Mountain Dew with Tri-Cities Beverage Corporation in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Hartman brothers also asked Coca-Cola for its opinion on their soft drink. The Coca-Cola Company rejected his offer. Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia, purchased the rights to Mountain Dew, revised the flavor, and released it in 1961. In 1964, Pepsico purchased Tip Corporation and thus acquired the rights to Mountain Dew. In 1999, the Virginia legislature recognized Bill Jones and the Town of Marion for their role in the Mountain Dew story.

"Mountain Dew" was originally Southern and/or Scottish/Irish slang for moonshine (i.e. homemade whiskey or poitín) as mentioned in the Irish folk song The Rare Old Mountain Dew dating from 1882. Using it as a name for the soft drink was originally suggested by Carl E. Retzke at an Owens-Illinois Inc. meeting in Toledo, Ohio, and first recorded by Ally and Barney Hartman in the 1940s. Early bottles and signs took the reference forward by depicting a hillbilly cartoon stylized. The first sketches of the original Mountain Dew bottle labels were devised in 1948 by John Brichetto, and the depiction on the product's packaging has changed at various points in the drink's history.

Ingredients

Mountain Dew is frequently criticized by health experts due to its high caffeine content (and for this reason it was launched in the Australian and Canadian markets without including caffeine in its formula). Mountain Dew also contains tartrazine (called "FD&C Yellow No. 5" in the US), which can cause an allergic reaction in some people. The "light" contains aspartame.

In its primary market of the United States, Mountain Dew's ingredient composition is listed as: "carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup (in much of the US), orange juice concentrate, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium benzoate, caffeine sodium citrate, erythorbic acid, gum arabic, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and 5 yellow".

The composition of Mountain Dew ingredients varies depending on the country of production. For example, in Canada, the sweetener listed is "glucose-fructose" (another name for high fructose corn syrup), and until 2012 was caffeine-free by default. Previously, the composition included brominated vegetable oil, an emulsifier banned in food throughout Europe and Japan. As of 2020, this ingredient has been removed.

In response to negative publicity about high-fructose corn syrup, PepsiCo in 2009 launched a limited production of Mountain Dew Throwback, a variation that consists of sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. Mountain Dew Throwback was subsequently re-released for short periods (usually 8 to 12 weeks at a time), including a second wave from December 2009 to February 2010 and a third wave in the summer and fall of 2010. A fourth production 8 weeks began in March 2011, before it became a permanent addition to the Mountain Dew flavor line. One 12 US fluid ounce (355 ml) can of Mountain Dew contains 54 mg of caffeine (equivalent to 152 mg/L).

Countries where it is available

• Germany
• Argentina, arrived in the country in 1981 and was discontinued in 1982.
• Australia
• Bolivia
• Brazil, available for some years in the 1980s and early 2000, also relaunched in 2015.
• Canada
• Colombia, since 2011.
• Chile, since 2019.
• South Korea
• Costa Rica
• Egypt
• El Salvador, since 2014.
• United Arab Emirates
• Spain, available for some years in early 2000, and relaunched in 2015.
• United States
• Philippines, since 2014.
• Finland, since 2002.
• Georgia, since January 2000.
• Guatemala, since 2012.
• Honduras, one of the best-selling soft drinks since 2013.
• Iceland, since 2002.
• Japan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Malta, since 2005
• Nicaragua, sold by supermarkets La Colonia.
• Norway, since 2005.
• Oman, since 2003.
• Netherlands
• Pakistan
• Panama
• Peru
• Puerto Rico
• Poland, since 2002.
• United Kingdom.
• Dominican Republic sold by the supermarkets La sirena, Nacional and Bravo.
• Romania, since 2003.
• Russia
• Serbia, since 2019.
• Singapore, since 2009.
• Syria
• Switzerland
• Ukraine

Sponsorship

PepsiCo (then The Pepsi-Cola Company) acquired the Mountain Dew brand in 1964, and shortly thereafter, in 1969, the logo was modified as the company sought to shift its focus toward a younger, more outdoors". This direction continued as the logo remained the same throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1996, PepsiCo began using a strategy it was already using with its flagship cola drink, Pepsi, changing the Mountain Dew logo every few years. New logos were introduced in 1996, 1998 and 2005. In October 2008, the Mountain Dew logo was redesigned to "Mtn Dew" in the US market, as a result of PepsiCo announcing that it would be renaming its core carbonated soft drink products in early 2009. However, variant flavors continued to use the previous design until May 2011, when it was announced that variants of flavor "Code Red", "LiveWire", "Voltage" and "Baja Blast" they would receive redesigned packaging, including new logos. to correspond with the 'Mtn Dew' style.

Initially it was promoted with the phrase "0% Moonshine", humorously indicating that it did not contain alcohol. In addition, it also did so with drawings of mountain people on the bottles until 1973. Currently, marketing is completely different: the target audience is young people between 20 and 30 years old, and the product's advertising campaigns associate it with extreme sports.

Amp Energy

Amp Energy is an energy drink distributed by PepsiCo under the Mountain Dew brand. Released in 2001, Amp was originally known as 'Mountain Dew AMP'. From 2007 to 2008, several additional flavors of Amp were introduced. In 2012, AMP's labeling and ingredients changed, as did the taste and appeal, according to fans. The Mountain Dew brand was also removed from cans during this change.