April 5, 2024 • 40 mins
This brand of soft drinks has always gone hard in its marketing concepts. Anney and Lauren x-plore the science and history of Mountain Dew.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savior production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm anner ree, an unworn vocal bomb, and today we
have an episode for you about Mountain Do.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Oh dear, Yes, Before I explain my oh dear, okay,
is there any reason this was on your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Ah? We had not done an episode about a brand
in a while, and so I was sort of just googling,
like the word brands, okay, yes, which which turns up
like really interesting listicles if you're a certain type of
human person, which probably many of you are, uh and yeah,
(00:49):
And I sort of I was like, oh, no, Mountain Do.
And it turns out the twenty twenty four is the
twenty year Baha versary. So how could I say no?
And to you, Lauren, yeah, so how could you say no?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Uh? Okay. So we're going to get into this in
the outline. But Mount Dew has a pretty bombastic impression
that they they put upon people in their ads and
everything I and people can write in my friends can
(01:31):
tell me. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I've never had it. Yes,
because sibling rivalry, y'all. My older brother loved it. We
had a combative relationship. I purposefully did not like it
(01:53):
because he loved it. Oh okay, and I even spouted
some debunked rumors about Mountain.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do to him. Okay, all right, I think we're going
to get into a few of those in a little
bit here.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah. Yeah, there are a couple. And then when I
was in a senior in high school, somewhere in high school,
I gave up soda. I stopped drinking soda drinks. So
I feel like I just missed.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
My lifetime window. It's gone now. You couldn't possibly take
a sip a bit later.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yes, And as I've said, I do drink mixed drinks
like with alcohol, but I don't think anything I would
seek out now would have Mountain Do in it. I
could be wrong, I could be wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I have seen a lot of cocktail recipes during my
reading adventures over the past twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Hours, so that's true. And speaking of okay, first of all,
not a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Oh yeah, perhaps obviously, but good to say out loud yep.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yes, but there was a recent alcoholic version of Mountain
Dew that made a really big news splash, like everybody
was talking about it. Yeah, which I know we're going
to get into a bit later, But as far as
I know, I haven't had it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I have a number of times. I think it was
physically impossible. It's a physical impossibility to have been like
a gamer in the early two thousands and to have
not consumed mountain dew at some point, I like, you know,
like like I was really into comic books and web
forums and Xbox and Halo, and I you know, you
(03:42):
just a thing that you did in the early two
thousands when you had those hobbies was eventually someone would
serve you a glass of mountain dew, and wow. I
don't I don't really have much of an opinion about it,
to be To be honest, I don't drink sugared SODA's
anymore because I shouldn't have that sugar, Like like you
(04:02):
would have to deal with me if I had that
much sugar. But it's fine. I don't think I've had
any of the alternate flavors. And now I'm really curious
about a few of those. I think I have had
a Baja blast.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well good in the ba Verse three year. I'm glad
to hear, well we're going to be talking about some
of those flavors. I would also say, you can see
our past episodes on soda on whiskey actually.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, moonshine, sure, bourbon, And I guess
some of our other brand related episodes might vaguely tie
in here.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, just in terms of vibe, Yes, Mountain Dew is
definitely a vibe.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
No, oh my, heck it is. And I suppose that
brings us to our question. Yes, I think it does.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Mountain Dew what is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Mountain Dew is a brand focusing on soft drinks that
currently comes in a range of bright colors and fruity flavors,
though the original and or classic flavor is sort of
like lemon, lime, orange, and yellow green in color. These
drinks are typically caffeinated, which is a little unusual for
fruit flavored sodas. The brand is currently owned by PepsiCo,
and it's just a marketing powerhouse that co brands with
(05:37):
lots of other PepsiCo properties like snack foods and restaurants,
plus with like sporting and gaming brands. The aforementioned vibe
is very bold and in your face in a sort
of goofully, earnest, youthful way. It's very serious about how
unseerious it is. It's like if the color of cocktail cherries.
(06:00):
We're a brand. It's like it's like if your if
your favorite loud kid, uh, you know that the one
who gets louder the more excited they are until they
are screaming at you about dinosaurs. It's like if that
kid was given completely free rain to design a soda brand,
(06:22):
and drinking mountain Dew is like living in that kid's
head for the length of a soda. It's it is
fun in a in a weirdly intense way. Yeah, and yeah,
you're you're saying yes as though you know, yeah, we're
gonna have to get you sip a mountain do at
(06:43):
some point here. And I do want to note, because
this is a subject it's very personal to me. I
am not making fun of that loud kid. I'm certainly
not trying to talk down about any kind of neurodivergence
or or like mental spiciness right like, like I am
that kid and most of my friends too. So we
were talking about mountain dew though, all right. Flavors, the
(07:09):
ones that are pretty widely available right now are that
classic Lemon lime, Orange, Code Red, which is cherry Voltage,
which is raspberry citrus Spark, which is raspberry lemonade, Major
Melon a watermelon, live wire orange, and Baja Blast tropical lime.
(07:29):
Some flavors also come in alternative varieties like diet zero
sugar or real sugar, and there are also limited time flavors.
Right now, for the aforementioned twenty year Baha Versary, they're
offering Baa Laguna Lemonade and Baja Point Break Punch, which
are mango lemonade and fruit punch flavored respectively. Sorry, I cannot.
(07:55):
I can't see the words point Break without thinking of
the film, which always makes me get So that's that's
just how I feel. I'm like really telling my age
in this episode.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
This is great.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Other recent or possibly still available flavors include Baja Passion Fruit,
Baja Caribbean Splash, which is guava pitch Black, which is
a dark citrus punch which I think means that it
has grape in it, white Out, a Yuzu lemongrass, Maui Burst,
a pineapple, Thrashed Apple, which I think is self explanatory,
(08:32):
Purple Thunder, which is a berry punch, overdrive, a citrus punch, Frostbite.
I don't know, man, it has a shark on it,
and citrus cherry, which probably has name envy for all
of these other products.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Wow yeah, intense, yeah intent right.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Uh. Several of these are exclusive to particular chain stores
like Walmart or Circle K. The brand also has a
line of energy drinks called Mountain Dew Kickstart in flavors
like black cherry, fruit Punch, Midnight, grape, orange citrus, which
I love. It's not just CRUs, it's not just orange,
it's orange citrus's anyway, pineapple, orange, mango, and strawberry Startup.
(09:19):
And because Soda Stream is owned by PepsiCo, there are
Mountain Dew flavored syrup concentrates on the consumer market now
as well. They have so many marketing tie ins right now,
they're doing promotions with Xbox. You can get digital stuff
by redeeming codes printed on the insides of the bottle caps.
They've also in various times partnered with streetwear brands, with
(09:40):
bands with the NBA, with Star Wars. There was a
seven eleven Darth Do slurpy that was released surrounding Revenge
of the Sith.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Can I do it?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know? Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And I and I do want to say here.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I couldn't really find a better place for this.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Note that because of the type of pop culture product
mountain dew is and the type of ubiquity it has
in the American consumer consciousness, and it really does. I'm
curious to hear from people outside the States, but y'all's experience,
if any, what this brand is. But there are a
lot of weird urban legends surrounding mountain dew. For example, like, okay,
(10:43):
just I need to tell you that you cannot use
just hydrogen peroxide in order to make mountain dew into
a glow stick. You can't do that. That's not You
can pour a glow stick into mountain dew to make
it into a glow stick, but you shouldn't drink that
because there's broken glass in those m Okay, that was
a thing from the from the twenty oughts that that was.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That was a thing.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In another example, there was this misreported science rumor that sucralose,
which is an artificial sweetener, can break down DNA. So
there was a run of news stories about this one
lady in Florida who poured diet and mountain dew over
herself to attempt to foil murder investigators who are trying
to question her about a recent murder. Yep, that's not
(11:35):
that won't work. That won't that won't work. Also, don't
murder people, perhaps more importantly, yeah, two morals of that story. Yes,
there's another misunderstood science thing that's led to a rumor
that drinking mountain dew will lower your sperm count because
of all the caffeine and yellow dye number five that
it contains. Don't worry. Mountain dew will not affect your
(11:58):
fertility unless the sugar content and it leads to other
health issues that affect fertility.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That was definitely the one.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's what I figured my brother.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I feel bad. I should apologize I was young, but
also I should have done it. Well. I guess that
leads us into our next thing. What about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Sugar? The amount of sugar that's in SODA's is a
treats are nice. It does have like about half again
as more caffeine as most cola's, so you know, watch
out for that if your caffeine sensitive I don't know,
and drink responsibly.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah, well we do have some numbers for you,
but we do.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
In twenty two YouTube personality bad Lens, I'm not sure
if I'm saying that right. I've not watched his videos.
I'm sorry. He set the Guinness record for the fastest
time to drink a leader of soda using Mountain Dew,
and that time was six point eight seconds. Oh yeah,
(13:20):
I feel like I would be belching forever after that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
My body physically reacted to that.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Okay, but yeah, it is. It is very popular. Mountain
Dew is a nine billion dollar global brand. It is
apparently the number one soft drink sold in single servings
and is thus purchased with the highest frequency of any
soft drink.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Wow, I really, listeners, I really hope you write in
about this, because people do have a love for it.
They have a passion for it, and it's almost ironic
in a lot of cases. Yeah, but in some cases
it's not Like in some cases it's a genuine I
(14:10):
just love this thing that's really making fun of itself almost. Yeah. Yeah,
it is.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
It is that that strange brand of of right of
of like earnest goofiness. Yeah, that can be enjoyed earnestly
or ironically. And uh and and yeah, and there's there's
a lot of you know, conversation to be had here
about about the soda industry in general, and and the
(14:40):
kind of and and the and the health concerns around
that that have really been pressed upon us in recent years,
and the sort of backlash against that in terms of like, man,
let me enjoy one thing, let me enjoy, like, let
me have a vice that's soda pop, come on, man, right,
(15:02):
and a lot of conversation about that, and we we
are going. I did not know the history of this brand,
and I am so excited to get into it with y'all.
And we are going to do that as soon as
we get back from a quick break for a word
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you, yes, so again. See
our episodes on soda, various types of soda, other beverages
as well, maybe even Sundays.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I have lemonade maybe yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Lemonade, that's a good one, but.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, Sunday's definitely ties in share the whole soda fountain.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Feel yeah, all right, so all right. Mountain Dew was
invented in the nineteen forties by Knoxville residents and sons
of German Immage. It's Barney and Olie Hartman. The story
goes that in the wake of World War One. They
managed an orange crush bottling plant in Augusta, Georgia, and
(16:11):
after work they liked enjoying a drink, particularly Old Taylor,
Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that they would then mix with
something called Natural Setup, which was a carbonated lemon lime
drink similar to sprite from what I've read, and a
lot of the advertising for this drink called it very healthful.
That was a sort of rabbit hole that I went
(16:34):
down that didn't really pan out to too much, but yeah,
they called it healthy.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, that was a pretty common thing to say about well,
basically anything at the time. But we were still going
through the period where carbonated drinks were associated with healthfulness.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yes, okay. So in nineteen thirty two, the plant that
these brothers were working at went bankrupt and they moved
on to manage this plant in Knoxville, but they diversified
because they didn't want the same thing to happen again.
For instance, once prohibition ended in nineteen thirty four, they
started selling beer, but they also were selling things like
(17:14):
PUPSI and they branded themselves the Hartman Beverage Company. Problem
though they couldn't get a hold of their favorite mixer,
Natural Setup Knoxville didn't sell it, so they decided to
make their own version to that end, and I love this.
(17:37):
They reached out to William Henry Billy Jones, the master
flavor mixer of the Tip Corporation, for help in creating
a carbonated, non alcoholic drink that would lend itself to
being a mixer. I love that. They were like, we
want this, Let's reach out to somebody.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Let's find someone in the industry who could make this happen.
Go uh huh.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yes. So on occasion they would bottle some samples of
what they called Personal Setup for themselves and those in
their circles. And this was a clear lemon lime flavored
drink similar to Seven Upper Sprites. And the joke was
(18:21):
that it was as good as mountain dew because when
it was used as a mixer, the resulting drink tasted
as good as moonshine.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Mountain dew being a synonym for moonshine in many Tennessee
and other Appalachian area circles.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yes, which we'll get into more later. Legally, that being said, though,
they were not the first at all to create a
dew beverage out of Knoxville. Even at least two decades earlier,
Max licked an immigrant out of hungery, sold barrel shaped
bottles of what he called do four a knicle. People
(19:06):
could purchase eight ounce bottles of all kinds of flavors,
including mountain dew, which was quote sparkling white, pure lemon.
Sounds pretty similar to me, but anyway. The Hartman brothers
debuted green bottles of mountain dew at a Gatlinburg bottling convention,
(19:29):
and their labels were truly striking. They depicted a man
barefoot and overalls, toting a rifle and a jug of moonshine.
The design was done by the Hartman's neighbor, who was
just in high school at the time, and it implied
that basically they were brewing mountain dew like moonshine. They
were brewing this drink, and they really leaned into that,
(19:52):
adopting slogans like it'll tickle your innards and yahooo. A
later label showed the hillbilly character who was called Grand Pappy,
shooting at a government official I believe who was looking
into them making moonshine.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, yeah, that was the clear Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, definitely. However, people weren't really into the flavor. The
Tri City Beverage Company stepped in. They were big fans
of the imagery and of the bottles, and the company
tapped Billy Jones again to change the formula into something
that was more of a sparkling, citrusy lemonade with more
(20:37):
sugar and caffeine. They called this a Tri City lemonade.
And they decided to put it into the Mountain Dew bottles,
this thing that they loved so much of the branding,
and rebrand the name as the New Mountain Dew in
nineteen sixty and it was a huge hit. It was
(20:58):
doing so well that Pepsi purchased it in nineteen sixty four.
They loved what they called the quote frankly, hillbilly appeal. Wow. Yeah.
At Pepsi Cola's bottling convention in New York that same year,
they built a hillbilly cabin where they offered samples of
(21:19):
what they called Mountain Elixir Mountain Dew.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, this was a whole This was a whole thing.
Like apparently the server on hand at this hillbilly cabin was,
you know, some actor vaguely in character is Miss Daisy May.
There was a commercial, like an animated commercial for the
soda in nineteen sixty six with a guy on a
(21:48):
banjo and he was singing in this like vaguely hillbilly
manor one of the lines as sure as shoot and
there's a bang in every bottle.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
There was a bit of a trend mid century celebrating
like at once celebrating and mocking, like the down home
independence and folksiness of rural mountain populations in America, like
people up in the Ozarks or the Appalachians, like considered
the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which debuted two years before
(22:23):
Pepsi bought this brand in nineteen sixty two. Green Acres
would come out in nineteen sixty five. It was it
was kind of a thing, kind of a weird, classist,
slightly racist thing.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, and it did kind of go away. Pepsi did
away with much of this hillbilly imagery in the nineteen seventies,
but they kept the bare feet with a campaign targeted
towards teens in the city with the slogan get that
barefoot feeling. I understand vaguely what they were trying to do,
(23:03):
but as someone coming from like my time.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
The future.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, this feels kind of hilarious and very strange to.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Me, right right, like, drink this country, drink urban teens
in order to be a better hippie, I'm not get
more in touch with nature.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
It kind of felt like, hey, kids, you're in the city,
drink this and you'll become one with nature. Yeah. I
don't know if that's exactly what they were trying to do,
but that is definitely not the last time that they
went for a youth demographic. I will say in the
nineteen nineties, Mountain Dew branding went hard, and I mean
(23:54):
like for extreme sports, and it's very difficult for someone
who grew up in this time not to do that
voice when talking about Mountain Dew.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
At sea above in my explanation of what it is.
That's yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes. Their names and flavors became more bombastic. They were
very in your face. Code Red, which is probably one
of the most well known ones, hit the shelves in
two thousand and one, and then in two thousand and
four we got the Unholy matrimony jak Kay of Mountain
(24:34):
Dew and Taco Bell yep, yes, and they came together
to create a flavor to be sold at Taco Bell's restaurants,
and voila, this bluish greenish flavor called Baja Blast was born.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
It's sort of it's like a slightly fruity lime flavor.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, and people loved it. They loved it it again,
it's hard to say ironically or earnestly both. Perhaps alongside
their tacos or as a mixer and drinks, I read
people like to mix it with stuff. Somewhat comically. In
my opinion, this seemed to spur Mountain Dew marketers to
(25:18):
go after the gamer demographic. And you can read about this,
but they seem to be thinking, like, you need food
and energy to fuel your gaming. Well, it's too much
to make a cup of coffee that's gonna take time.
You need the ease and convenience of Mountain Doom in
(25:40):
a variety of interesting colors and flavors and also names. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, there was a there was a big push for
like for like like oh, like gamers are they'll buy
stuff lazy people who like junk food, So let's just
roll with that. I that is again a stereotype, and
not a very kind one, but here we are.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. Yeah, and to that end, they did start doing
these promos and partnerships with game releases and also releasing
flavors with these names like Voltage, very game related. But
they also partnered with other brands that might be in
that realm that you're talking about, Lauren of you know,
(26:34):
Lazy gaber stereotype. Dorito's. They partnered with Dorito's. Originally they
tried to create this thing called Deweedos, which, yes, which
was a Dorrito's flavored mountain dew that was ultimately abandoned. Yes,
(26:55):
but they came together again in twenty twenty for mountain
Dew flavor Doritos, which I understand worked out better.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I can imagine that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
speaking of the gamer related market.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
In twenty thirteen, they released their line of energy drinks
called Kickstart, the concept being that they're healthier, they have
less sugar and the addition of fruit juice concentrate as flavorings,
which is apparently one of PepsiCo's most successful product launches
from that decade. Wow, all right, Yeah. In twenty fifteen,
(27:39):
PepsiCo came out with an offshoot Kraft Soda craft Sodas.
This was kind of like like in the swing of
the craft cocktail and craft beer movement, there was a
kind of craft soda movement around the same time, and
so yeah, so they came out out with this craft
soda called Mountain Dew dow Shine, which was a clear
soda with citrus flavoring that came in glass bottles or
(28:02):
a larger glass jug with good Old Willy the Hillbilly
on the packaging.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Good Old Willy the Hillbilly. Well. In twenty sixteen, PepsiCo
got entangled in a legal battle with a moonshine distillery,
Old Smoky, for their trademark application for All Smoky mountain
Dew moonshine.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah. Old Smokey had filed this trademark application the previous year,
twenty fifteen, in September, though do I had to look
into this, Dewshine had beat them by a few months.
It was released in March of that year, and then
All Smoky filed their trademark application. I don't know if
the two were related. I just needed to know for
(28:50):
personal vindication which one had come first.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Absolutely. Old Smokey's founder argued that for a very long time,
mountain dew had been a term used in moonshining since
at least in nineteen twenties, and that mountain dew was
first used in the US in an eighteen ninety trademark
for distilled spirits product.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Which is correct, that's absolutely the Truth's yes, that is
the history of that term, and that is clearly what
this brand was banking on when they named their product that.
That is obviously what they were referencing.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So like, yeah, anyway, Yeah, it did kind of crack
me up when I was like, well, mountain dew, you
leaned into that, and your whole product is kind of
that leaning into that moonshine history. So anyway, in twenty nineteen,
(29:52):
KFC got their first I'm saying, their first exclusive mountain
dew flavor meant to pair well with their fried chicken
Sweet Lightning.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Mm hmm. It's a honey peach flavor, I guess, yeah, yeah, yep.
In twenty twenty one, PepsiCo did a mashup of two
of their brands to produce a Mountain Dew Flaming Hot soda. It's,
you know, paired with flaming hot cheetos. Yeah, it's apparently
(30:23):
like a spicy citrus flavor soda, and that Hard Soda
line was released in twenty twenty two. Yeah, it is
a malt beverage. The current flavors are classic, Baja, live Wire,
and Watermelon.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, it's an interesting it's an interesting brand because I
feel like when this news came out, everybody was talking
about it and it was, you know, in terms of
mountain dew in your face again, So they definitely have
a they have a cult of reputation.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, right, And I mean like in the cans of
this hard soda look like look like the packaging of
like Axe Body Spray or like Old Bay maybe like
the like the like the new like like Broie Old
Bay packaging. Right, it's it is. It is fascinating to
me and and right like like I was I was
(31:26):
telling Annie before we started recording, like I have up
on my other screen. This essay on on eater dot
Com from one Sarah bard b a I r D
about about how how you know she she's from Appalachia,
she loves mountain dew in this very nostalgic, earnest kind
(31:47):
of way, and how people have judged her for it,
how she has felt shame about it, and talking about
the sort of public moral down your nose. Luckiness. There's
a better word for it than that. But y'all, y'all
know what I mean when it comes to health and
(32:09):
that that sodas very in particular have have been tied
up in over the past couple decades, and you know,
like like, how dare you a person of education consume
something so frivolous and furthermore clearly unhealthy? Right? And and
it really does, it really does tie in to the
(32:29):
entire history of this company and the judgment of classes
and intelligence and what you consume. And I'm like, Wowser's PepsiCo,
you're just going for that?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, yeah, Once again, there's so much to be learned
from what you think is just the in your face
for me, the in your face nineties drink. Yeah, but
(33:04):
there's so much more to it and to be learned
from it. So yeah, listeners, please, if you have any thoughts, stories.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Stories, if you can quote, holy that whole, that whole
like like like I attack the darkness? Is there any
more mountain dew? Like if you know you know? Yeah,
if yeah, right in right in let us know.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
There's a lot of if you know you know in
this way, well, yes, please write in but we do
have some listener mail all ready for you.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We do, and we are going to get into that
since we get back from one more quick break forward
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with listen.
If you have not experienced a nineties commercial, I don't
know what to tell you.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
There's lots of like of like snowboarding.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Like like alternative rock music.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah, like angrier, yeah, like heavy guitar, yes, and like
everyone's hair was like just sticking straight up.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Right yeah, highlights probably, oh yeah, yeah yeah. And that's
for me very specifically my Mountain Dew experience. Yes, Connie wrote,
(34:56):
I just listened to your anniversary show and you seemed
amazing at the folks and bars that helped you when
you arrived at a new place. Well, I have to
tell you that this is a thing. We lived full
time in an RV for eight years, traveling the US
and Canada. Our pattern of traveling was to plot out
a route for each summer. We spent winters in Florida,
(35:18):
and we would spend about five to seven days in
each location and travel up to one hundred and fifty
mile radius to see things the first night. We would
almost always go to a bar, our local restaurant and
eat at the bar. We'd strike up conversations with locals
and ask what we absolutely had to do see eat
in the area. We found so many cool places that
(35:41):
way that aren't in any guide books. This is definitely
a recommended way to quickly find the best places in
any area you are visiting. Yeah. I love that. It's
so true because there's a difference between what is getting promoted,
(36:04):
what you can look up online, and just what people
are doing.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Oh absolutely in that area. Absolutely. Yeah, and and right
and like and like the right, the right, the right
person you strike up that conversation with No's and is
so excited to share that information with you.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yes, and I love it. I love when they are
like you have to get Not only do they tell
you where to go, they know their name of the
person who works there. They're like, okay, and you have
to get this dish and also this drink. Like they
have such specific memories and thoughts and opinions about it,
and it's so lovely. We really like on so many
(36:45):
of our trips. Well, just somebody will be interviewing at
the end, we'll say where are you going after this?
And we'll be like oh, and they would be here's
where you go. Yeah, this is what you get.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, go to here, trust me, don't ask questions, just
leave now.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And we did. All right, all right, done, and it
worked out. It's great.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Always trust, always trust the locals over the over the internet,
which I know is terrifying advice a certain way, but yes,
if you can.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
And it's like there for you, but yeah, you can
get the locals.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah yeah. Eric wrote love listener Mail and episodes of
listener Mail. I really enjoy hearing the diversity of the listeners,
the experiences, the memories, the recipes, the cage matches. With
Charles E. Fromage, it is always fun to hear how
a food or ingredient can be used in so many
different ways or evoke such comfort. Food is definitely a
(37:52):
great uniter more food, less, hate and fighting. I don't
know if you ever watched not Another Cooking show on YouTube,
but I highly recommend it. He's almost always wearing the
shirt hate less, cook more. I think that sounds like
a good motto to live out. Lingoenberries are definitely interesting.
I've had a couple of different preparations both sweet and tart.
Something you should try when you can. I found that
(38:14):
if you get a slightly sweet one and pair it
up with some bold sausage or other meat, it does
give a little pop to the food. A bit of
spicy sausage with a little dab of the jam or
chutney is just difficult to describe. Chili crisp is another
great condiment. It works on a lot of dishes to
add that burst of flavor or some different texture. M
(38:37):
Oh yeah, yeah, yes, Annie just like went to dreamland
for a second. Answer that palpable silence, just pondering.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Oh my gosh. Yes, we love the listener male episodes,
and we love when you listeners interact with each other.
Oh yeah, and answer each other. That's like one of
the best things. So please keep that up. Yes, chucky
cheese also give me falls, also gives pause. I can't
(39:19):
wait to hear I hope, I hope more listeners write
in about chuck E cheese in Australia.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, I'm so curious about how that goes over I mean,
I guess I'm curious about how it goes over here too.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, I'm just anywhere.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, it's just a very curious phenomenon to me, yeah
it is, but yeah, but absolutely food is a uniter
and yeah I hate less cook Moore is Ace's slogan.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Absolutely absolutely well. Thanks so much to these listeners for
writing in. If you would like to write to us,
you can. Our email is hello atapod dot com. But
we are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Save is production of
iHeartRadio four more podcasts Myheartradio. You can visit the iHeartRadio app,
(40:13):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Thanks us always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savior production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm anner ree, an unworn vocal bomb, and today we
have an episode for you about Mountain Do.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Oh dear, Yes, Before I explain my oh dear, okay,
is there any reason this was on your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Ah? We had not done an episode about a brand
in a while, and so I was sort of just googling,
like the word brands, okay, yes, which which turns up
like really interesting listicles if you're a certain type of
human person, which probably many of you are, uh and yeah,
(00:49):
And I sort of I was like, oh, no, Mountain Do.
And it turns out the twenty twenty four is the
twenty year Baha versary. So how could I say no?
And to you, Lauren, yeah, so how could you say no?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Uh? Okay. So we're going to get into this in
the outline. But Mount Dew has a pretty bombastic impression
that they they put upon people in their ads and
everything I and people can write in my friends can
(01:31):
tell me. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I've never had it. Yes,
because sibling rivalry, y'all. My older brother loved it. We
had a combative relationship. I purposefully did not like it
(01:53):
because he loved it. Oh okay, and I even spouted
some debunked rumors about Mountain.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do to him. Okay, all right, I think we're going
to get into a few of those in a little
bit here.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah. Yeah, there are a couple. And then when I
was in a senior in high school, somewhere in high school,
I gave up soda. I stopped drinking soda drinks. So
I feel like I just missed.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
My lifetime window. It's gone now. You couldn't possibly take
a sip a bit later.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yes, And as I've said, I do drink mixed drinks
like with alcohol, but I don't think anything I would
seek out now would have Mountain Do in it. I
could be wrong, I could be wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I have seen a lot of cocktail recipes during my
reading adventures over the past twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Hours, so that's true. And speaking of okay, first of all,
not a sponsor.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Oh yeah, perhaps obviously, but good to say out loud yep.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yes, but there was a recent alcoholic version of Mountain
Dew that made a really big news splash, like everybody
was talking about it. Yeah, which I know we're going
to get into a bit later, But as far as
I know, I haven't had it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I have a number of times. I think it was
physically impossible. It's a physical impossibility to have been like
a gamer in the early two thousands and to have
not consumed mountain dew at some point, I like, you know,
like like I was really into comic books and web
forums and Xbox and Halo, and I you know, you
(03:42):
just a thing that you did in the early two
thousands when you had those hobbies was eventually someone would
serve you a glass of mountain dew, and wow. I
don't I don't really have much of an opinion about it,
to be To be honest, I don't drink sugared SODA's
anymore because I shouldn't have that sugar, Like like you
(04:02):
would have to deal with me if I had that
much sugar. But it's fine. I don't think I've had
any of the alternate flavors. And now I'm really curious
about a few of those. I think I have had
a Baja blast.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well good in the ba Verse three year. I'm glad
to hear, well we're going to be talking about some
of those flavors. I would also say, you can see
our past episodes on soda on whiskey actually.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, moonshine, sure, bourbon, And I guess
some of our other brand related episodes might vaguely tie
in here.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, just in terms of vibe, Yes, Mountain Dew is
definitely a vibe.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
No, oh my, heck it is. And I suppose that
brings us to our question. Yes, I think it does.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Mountain Dew what is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Mountain Dew is a brand focusing on soft drinks that
currently comes in a range of bright colors and fruity flavors,
though the original and or classic flavor is sort of
like lemon, lime, orange, and yellow green in color. These
drinks are typically caffeinated, which is a little unusual for
fruit flavored sodas. The brand is currently owned by PepsiCo,
and it's just a marketing powerhouse that co brands with
(05:37):
lots of other PepsiCo properties like snack foods and restaurants,
plus with like sporting and gaming brands. The aforementioned vibe
is very bold and in your face in a sort
of goofully, earnest, youthful way. It's very serious about how
unseerious it is. It's like if the color of cocktail cherries.
(06:00):
We're a brand. It's like it's like if your if
your favorite loud kid, uh, you know that the one
who gets louder the more excited they are until they
are screaming at you about dinosaurs. It's like if that
kid was given completely free rain to design a soda brand,
(06:22):
and drinking mountain Dew is like living in that kid's
head for the length of a soda. It's it is
fun in a in a weirdly intense way. Yeah, and yeah,
you're you're saying yes as though you know, yeah, we're
gonna have to get you sip a mountain do at
(06:43):
some point here. And I do want to note, because
this is a subject it's very personal to me. I
am not making fun of that loud kid. I'm certainly
not trying to talk down about any kind of neurodivergence
or or like mental spiciness right like, like I am
that kid and most of my friends too. So we
were talking about mountain dew though, all right. Flavors, the
(07:09):
ones that are pretty widely available right now are that
classic Lemon lime, Orange, Code Red, which is cherry Voltage,
which is raspberry citrus Spark, which is raspberry lemonade, Major
Melon a watermelon, live wire orange, and Baja Blast tropical lime.
(07:29):
Some flavors also come in alternative varieties like diet zero
sugar or real sugar, and there are also limited time flavors.
Right now, for the aforementioned twenty year Baha Versary, they're
offering Baa Laguna Lemonade and Baja Point Break Punch, which
are mango lemonade and fruit punch flavored respectively. Sorry, I cannot.
(07:55):
I can't see the words point Break without thinking of
the film, which always makes me get So that's that's
just how I feel. I'm like really telling my age
in this episode.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
This is great.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Other recent or possibly still available flavors include Baja Passion Fruit,
Baja Caribbean Splash, which is guava pitch Black, which is
a dark citrus punch which I think means that it
has grape in it, white Out, a Yuzu lemongrass, Maui Burst,
a pineapple, Thrashed Apple, which I think is self explanatory,
(08:32):
Purple Thunder, which is a berry punch, overdrive, a citrus punch, Frostbite.
I don't know, man, it has a shark on it,
and citrus cherry, which probably has name envy for all
of these other products.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Wow yeah, intense, yeah intent right.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Uh. Several of these are exclusive to particular chain stores
like Walmart or Circle K. The brand also has a
line of energy drinks called Mountain Dew Kickstart in flavors
like black cherry, fruit Punch, Midnight, grape, orange citrus, which
I love. It's not just CRUs, it's not just orange,
it's orange citrus's anyway, pineapple, orange, mango, and strawberry Startup.
(09:19):
And because Soda Stream is owned by PepsiCo, there are
Mountain Dew flavored syrup concentrates on the consumer market now
as well. They have so many marketing tie ins right now,
they're doing promotions with Xbox. You can get digital stuff
by redeeming codes printed on the insides of the bottle caps.
They've also in various times partnered with streetwear brands, with
(09:40):
bands with the NBA, with Star Wars. There was a
seven eleven Darth Do slurpy that was released surrounding Revenge
of the Sith.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Can I do it?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know? Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And I and I do want to say here.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I couldn't really find a better place for this.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Note that because of the type of pop culture product
mountain dew is and the type of ubiquity it has
in the American consumer consciousness, and it really does. I'm
curious to hear from people outside the States, but y'all's experience,
if any, what this brand is. But there are a
lot of weird urban legends surrounding mountain dew. For example, like, okay,
(10:43):
just I need to tell you that you cannot use
just hydrogen peroxide in order to make mountain dew into
a glow stick. You can't do that. That's not You
can pour a glow stick into mountain dew to make
it into a glow stick, but you shouldn't drink that
because there's broken glass in those m Okay, that was
a thing from the from the twenty oughts that that was.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That was a thing.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
In another example, there was this misreported science rumor that sucralose,
which is an artificial sweetener, can break down DNA. So
there was a run of news stories about this one
lady in Florida who poured diet and mountain dew over
herself to attempt to foil murder investigators who are trying
to question her about a recent murder. Yep, that's not
(11:35):
that won't work. That won't that won't work. Also, don't
murder people, perhaps more importantly, yeah, two morals of that story. Yes,
there's another misunderstood science thing that's led to a rumor
that drinking mountain dew will lower your sperm count because
of all the caffeine and yellow dye number five that
it contains. Don't worry. Mountain dew will not affect your
(11:58):
fertility unless the sugar content and it leads to other
health issues that affect fertility.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That was definitely the one.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's what I figured my brother.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I feel bad. I should apologize I was young, but
also I should have done it. Well. I guess that
leads us into our next thing. What about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Sugar? The amount of sugar that's in SODA's is a
treats are nice. It does have like about half again
as more caffeine as most cola's, so you know, watch
out for that if your caffeine sensitive I don't know,
and drink responsibly.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, yeah, well we do have some numbers for you,
but we do.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
In twenty two YouTube personality bad Lens, I'm not sure
if I'm saying that right. I've not watched his videos.
I'm sorry. He set the Guinness record for the fastest
time to drink a leader of soda using Mountain Dew,
and that time was six point eight seconds. Oh yeah,
(13:20):
I feel like I would be belching forever after that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
My body physically reacted to that.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Okay, but yeah, it is. It is very popular. Mountain
Dew is a nine billion dollar global brand. It is
apparently the number one soft drink sold in single servings
and is thus purchased with the highest frequency of any
soft drink.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Wow, I really, listeners, I really hope you write in
about this, because people do have a love for it.
They have a passion for it, and it's almost ironic
in a lot of cases. Yeah, but in some cases
it's not Like in some cases it's a genuine I
(14:10):
just love this thing that's really making fun of itself almost. Yeah. Yeah,
it is.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
It is that that strange brand of of right of
of like earnest goofiness. Yeah, that can be enjoyed earnestly
or ironically. And uh and and yeah, and there's there's
a lot of you know, conversation to be had here
about about the soda industry in general, and and the
(14:40):
kind of and and the and the health concerns around
that that have really been pressed upon us in recent years,
and the sort of backlash against that in terms of like, man,
let me enjoy one thing, let me enjoy, like, let
me have a vice that's soda pop, come on, man, right,
(15:02):
and a lot of conversation about that, and we we
are going. I did not know the history of this brand,
and I am so excited to get into it with y'all.
And we are going to do that as soon as
we get back from a quick break for a word
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you, yes, so again. See
our episodes on soda, various types of soda, other beverages
as well, maybe even Sundays.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I have lemonade maybe yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Lemonade, that's a good one, but.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, Sunday's definitely ties in share the whole soda fountain.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Feel yeah, all right, so all right. Mountain Dew was
invented in the nineteen forties by Knoxville residents and sons
of German Immage. It's Barney and Olie Hartman. The story
goes that in the wake of World War One. They
managed an orange crush bottling plant in Augusta, Georgia, and
(16:11):
after work they liked enjoying a drink, particularly Old Taylor,
Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that they would then mix with
something called Natural Setup, which was a carbonated lemon lime
drink similar to sprite from what I've read, and a
lot of the advertising for this drink called it very healthful.
That was a sort of rabbit hole that I went
(16:34):
down that didn't really pan out to too much, but yeah,
they called it healthy.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, that was a pretty common thing to say about well,
basically anything at the time. But we were still going
through the period where carbonated drinks were associated with healthfulness.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yes, okay. So in nineteen thirty two, the plant that
these brothers were working at went bankrupt and they moved
on to manage this plant in Knoxville, but they diversified
because they didn't want the same thing to happen again.
For instance, once prohibition ended in nineteen thirty four, they
started selling beer, but they also were selling things like
(17:14):
PUPSI and they branded themselves the Hartman Beverage Company. Problem
though they couldn't get a hold of their favorite mixer,
Natural Setup Knoxville didn't sell it, so they decided to
make their own version to that end, and I love this.
(17:37):
They reached out to William Henry Billy Jones, the master
flavor mixer of the Tip Corporation, for help in creating
a carbonated, non alcoholic drink that would lend itself to
being a mixer. I love that. They were like, we
want this, Let's reach out to somebody.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Let's find someone in the industry who could make this happen.
Go uh huh.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yes. So on occasion they would bottle some samples of
what they called Personal Setup for themselves and those in
their circles. And this was a clear lemon lime flavored
drink similar to Seven Upper Sprites. And the joke was
(18:21):
that it was as good as mountain dew because when
it was used as a mixer, the resulting drink tasted
as good as moonshine.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Mountain dew being a synonym for moonshine in many Tennessee
and other Appalachian area circles.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yes, which we'll get into more later. Legally, that being said, though,
they were not the first at all to create a
dew beverage out of Knoxville. Even at least two decades earlier,
Max licked an immigrant out of hungery, sold barrel shaped
bottles of what he called do four a knicle. People
(19:06):
could purchase eight ounce bottles of all kinds of flavors,
including mountain dew, which was quote sparkling white, pure lemon.
Sounds pretty similar to me, but anyway. The Hartman brothers
debuted green bottles of mountain dew at a Gatlinburg bottling convention,
(19:29):
and their labels were truly striking. They depicted a man
barefoot and overalls, toting a rifle and a jug of moonshine.
The design was done by the Hartman's neighbor, who was
just in high school at the time, and it implied
that basically they were brewing mountain dew like moonshine. They
were brewing this drink, and they really leaned into that,
(19:52):
adopting slogans like it'll tickle your innards and yahooo. A
later label showed the hillbilly character who was called Grand Pappy,
shooting at a government official I believe who was looking
into them making moonshine.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, yeah, that was the clear Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, definitely. However, people weren't really into the flavor. The
Tri City Beverage Company stepped in. They were big fans
of the imagery and of the bottles, and the company
tapped Billy Jones again to change the formula into something
that was more of a sparkling, citrusy lemonade with more
(20:37):
sugar and caffeine. They called this a Tri City lemonade.
And they decided to put it into the Mountain Dew bottles,
this thing that they loved so much of the branding,
and rebrand the name as the New Mountain Dew in
nineteen sixty and it was a huge hit. It was
(20:58):
doing so well that Pepsi purchased it in nineteen sixty four.
They loved what they called the quote frankly, hillbilly appeal. Wow. Yeah.
At Pepsi Cola's bottling convention in New York that same year,
they built a hillbilly cabin where they offered samples of
(21:19):
what they called Mountain Elixir Mountain Dew.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, this was a whole This was a whole thing.
Like apparently the server on hand at this hillbilly cabin was,
you know, some actor vaguely in character is Miss Daisy May.
There was a commercial, like an animated commercial for the
soda in nineteen sixty six with a guy on a
(21:48):
banjo and he was singing in this like vaguely hillbilly
manor one of the lines as sure as shoot and
there's a bang in every bottle.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
There was a bit of a trend mid century celebrating
like at once celebrating and mocking, like the down home
independence and folksiness of rural mountain populations in America, like
people up in the Ozarks or the Appalachians, like considered
the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which debuted two years before
(22:23):
Pepsi bought this brand in nineteen sixty two. Green Acres
would come out in nineteen sixty five. It was it
was kind of a thing, kind of a weird, classist,
slightly racist thing.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, and it did kind of go away. Pepsi did
away with much of this hillbilly imagery in the nineteen seventies,
but they kept the bare feet with a campaign targeted
towards teens in the city with the slogan get that
barefoot feeling. I understand vaguely what they were trying to do,
(23:03):
but as someone coming from like my time.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
The future.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, this feels kind of hilarious and very strange to.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Me, right right, like, drink this country, drink urban teens
in order to be a better hippie, I'm not get
more in touch with nature.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
It kind of felt like, hey, kids, you're in the city,
drink this and you'll become one with nature. Yeah. I
don't know if that's exactly what they were trying to do,
but that is definitely not the last time that they
went for a youth demographic. I will say in the
nineteen nineties, Mountain Dew branding went hard, and I mean
(23:54):
like for extreme sports, and it's very difficult for someone
who grew up in this time not to do that
voice when talking about Mountain Dew.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
At sea above in my explanation of what it is.
That's yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes. Their names and flavors became more bombastic. They were
very in your face. Code Red, which is probably one
of the most well known ones, hit the shelves in
two thousand and one, and then in two thousand and
four we got the Unholy matrimony jak Kay of Mountain
(24:34):
Dew and Taco Bell yep, yes, and they came together
to create a flavor to be sold at Taco Bell's restaurants,
and voila, this bluish greenish flavor called Baja Blast was born.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
It's sort of it's like a slightly fruity lime flavor.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, and people loved it. They loved it it again,
it's hard to say ironically or earnestly both. Perhaps alongside
their tacos or as a mixer and drinks, I read
people like to mix it with stuff. Somewhat comically. In
my opinion, this seemed to spur Mountain Dew marketers to
(25:18):
go after the gamer demographic. And you can read about this,
but they seem to be thinking, like, you need food
and energy to fuel your gaming. Well, it's too much
to make a cup of coffee that's gonna take time.
You need the ease and convenience of Mountain Doom in
(25:40):
a variety of interesting colors and flavors and also names. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, there was a there was a big push for
like for like like oh, like gamers are they'll buy
stuff lazy people who like junk food, So let's just
roll with that. I that is again a stereotype, and
not a very kind one, but here we are.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. Yeah, and to that end, they did start doing
these promos and partnerships with game releases and also releasing
flavors with these names like Voltage, very game related. But
they also partnered with other brands that might be in
that realm that you're talking about, Lauren of you know,
(26:34):
Lazy gaber stereotype. Dorito's. They partnered with Dorito's. Originally they
tried to create this thing called Deweedos, which, yes, which
was a Dorrito's flavored mountain dew that was ultimately abandoned. Yes,
(26:55):
but they came together again in twenty twenty for mountain
Dew flavor Doritos, which I understand worked out better.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I can imagine that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess
speaking of the gamer related market.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
In twenty thirteen, they released their line of energy drinks
called Kickstart, the concept being that they're healthier, they have
less sugar and the addition of fruit juice concentrate as flavorings,
which is apparently one of PepsiCo's most successful product launches
from that decade. Wow, all right, Yeah. In twenty fifteen,
(27:39):
PepsiCo came out with an offshoot Kraft Soda craft Sodas.
This was kind of like like in the swing of
the craft cocktail and craft beer movement, there was a
kind of craft soda movement around the same time, and
so yeah, so they came out out with this craft
soda called Mountain Dew dow Shine, which was a clear
soda with citrus flavoring that came in glass bottles or
(28:02):
a larger glass jug with good Old Willy the Hillbilly
on the packaging.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Good Old Willy the Hillbilly. Well. In twenty sixteen, PepsiCo
got entangled in a legal battle with a moonshine distillery,
Old Smoky, for their trademark application for All Smoky mountain
Dew moonshine.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah. Old Smokey had filed this trademark application the previous year,
twenty fifteen, in September, though do I had to look
into this, Dewshine had beat them by a few months.
It was released in March of that year, and then
All Smoky filed their trademark application. I don't know if
the two were related. I just needed to know for
(28:50):
personal vindication which one had come first.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Absolutely. Old Smokey's founder argued that for a very long time,
mountain dew had been a term used in moonshining since
at least in nineteen twenties, and that mountain dew was
first used in the US in an eighteen ninety trademark
for distilled spirits product.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Which is correct, that's absolutely the Truth's yes, that is
the history of that term, and that is clearly what
this brand was banking on when they named their product that.
That is obviously what they were referencing.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So like, yeah, anyway, Yeah, it did kind of crack
me up when I was like, well, mountain dew, you
leaned into that, and your whole product is kind of
that leaning into that moonshine history. So anyway, in twenty nineteen,
(29:52):
KFC got their first I'm saying, their first exclusive mountain
dew flavor meant to pair well with their fried chicken
Sweet Lightning.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Mm hmm. It's a honey peach flavor, I guess, yeah, yeah, yep.
In twenty twenty one, PepsiCo did a mashup of two
of their brands to produce a Mountain Dew Flaming Hot soda. It's,
you know, paired with flaming hot cheetos. Yeah, it's apparently
(30:23):
like a spicy citrus flavor soda, and that Hard Soda
line was released in twenty twenty two. Yeah, it is
a malt beverage. The current flavors are classic, Baja, live Wire,
and Watermelon.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, it's an interesting it's an interesting brand because I
feel like when this news came out, everybody was talking
about it and it was, you know, in terms of
mountain dew in your face again, So they definitely have
a they have a cult of reputation.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, right, And I mean like in the cans of
this hard soda look like look like the packaging of
like Axe Body Spray or like Old Bay maybe like
the like the like the new like like Broie Old
Bay packaging. Right, it's it is. It is fascinating to
me and and right like like I was I was
(31:26):
telling Annie before we started recording, like I have up
on my other screen. This essay on on eater dot
Com from one Sarah bard b a I r D
about about how how you know she she's from Appalachia,
she loves mountain dew in this very nostalgic, earnest kind
(31:47):
of way, and how people have judged her for it,
how she has felt shame about it, and talking about
the sort of public moral down your nose. Luckiness. There's
a better word for it than that. But y'all, y'all
know what I mean when it comes to health and
(32:09):
that that sodas very in particular have have been tied
up in over the past couple decades, and you know,
like like, how dare you a person of education consume
something so frivolous and furthermore clearly unhealthy? Right? And and
it really does, it really does tie in to the
(32:29):
entire history of this company and the judgment of classes
and intelligence and what you consume. And I'm like, Wowser's PepsiCo,
you're just going for that?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, yeah, Once again, there's so much to be learned
from what you think is just the in your face
for me, the in your face nineties drink. Yeah, but
(33:04):
there's so much more to it and to be learned
from it. So yeah, listeners, please, if you have any thoughts, stories.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Stories, if you can quote, holy that whole, that whole
like like like I attack the darkness? Is there any
more mountain dew? Like if you know you know? Yeah,
if yeah, right in right in let us know.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
There's a lot of if you know you know in
this way, well, yes, please write in but we do
have some listener mail all ready for you.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We do, and we are going to get into that
since we get back from one more quick break forward
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with listen.
If you have not experienced a nineties commercial, I don't
know what to tell you.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
There's lots of like of like snowboarding.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Like like alternative rock music.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah, like angrier, yeah, like heavy guitar, yes, and like
everyone's hair was like just sticking straight up.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Right yeah, highlights probably, oh yeah, yeah yeah. And that's
for me very specifically my Mountain Dew experience. Yes, Connie wrote,
(34:56):
I just listened to your anniversary show and you seemed
amazing at the folks and bars that helped you when
you arrived at a new place. Well, I have to
tell you that this is a thing. We lived full
time in an RV for eight years, traveling the US
and Canada. Our pattern of traveling was to plot out
a route for each summer. We spent winters in Florida,
(35:18):
and we would spend about five to seven days in
each location and travel up to one hundred and fifty
mile radius to see things the first night. We would
almost always go to a bar, our local restaurant and
eat at the bar. We'd strike up conversations with locals
and ask what we absolutely had to do see eat
in the area. We found so many cool places that
(35:41):
way that aren't in any guide books. This is definitely
a recommended way to quickly find the best places in
any area you are visiting. Yeah. I love that. It's
so true because there's a difference between what is getting promoted,
(36:04):
what you can look up online, and just what people
are doing.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Oh absolutely in that area. Absolutely. Yeah, and and right
and like and like the right, the right, the right
person you strike up that conversation with No's and is
so excited to share that information with you.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yes, and I love it. I love when they are
like you have to get Not only do they tell
you where to go, they know their name of the
person who works there. They're like, okay, and you have
to get this dish and also this drink. Like they
have such specific memories and thoughts and opinions about it,
and it's so lovely. We really like on so many
(36:45):
of our trips. Well, just somebody will be interviewing at
the end, we'll say where are you going after this?
And we'll be like oh, and they would be here's
where you go. Yeah, this is what you get.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, go to here, trust me, don't ask questions, just
leave now.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And we did. All right, all right, done, and it
worked out. It's great.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Always trust, always trust the locals over the over the internet,
which I know is terrifying advice a certain way, but yes,
if you can.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
And it's like there for you, but yeah, you can
get the locals.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah yeah. Eric wrote love listener Mail and episodes of
listener Mail. I really enjoy hearing the diversity of the listeners,
the experiences, the memories, the recipes, the cage matches. With
Charles E. Fromage, it is always fun to hear how
a food or ingredient can be used in so many
different ways or evoke such comfort. Food is definitely a
(37:52):
great uniter more food, less, hate and fighting. I don't
know if you ever watched not Another Cooking show on YouTube,
but I highly recommend it. He's almost always wearing the
shirt hate less, cook more. I think that sounds like
a good motto to live out. Lingoenberries are definitely interesting.
I've had a couple of different preparations both sweet and tart.
Something you should try when you can. I found that
(38:14):
if you get a slightly sweet one and pair it
up with some bold sausage or other meat, it does
give a little pop to the food. A bit of
spicy sausage with a little dab of the jam or
chutney is just difficult to describe. Chili crisp is another
great condiment. It works on a lot of dishes to
add that burst of flavor or some different texture. M
(38:37):
Oh yeah, yeah, yes, Annie just like went to dreamland
for a second. Answer that palpable silence, just pondering.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Oh my gosh. Yes, we love the listener male episodes,
and we love when you listeners interact with each other.
Oh yeah, and answer each other. That's like one of
the best things. So please keep that up. Yes, chucky
cheese also give me falls, also gives pause. I can't
(39:19):
wait to hear I hope, I hope more listeners write
in about chuck E cheese in Australia.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, I'm so curious about how that goes over I mean,
I guess I'm curious about how it goes over here too.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, I'm just anywhere.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, it's just a very curious phenomenon to me, yeah
it is, but yeah, but absolutely food is a uniter
and yeah I hate less cook Moore is Ace's slogan.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Absolutely absolutely well. Thanks so much to these listeners for
writing in. If you would like to write to us,
you can. Our email is hello atapod dot com. But
we are also on social media. You can find us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Save is production of
iHeartRadio four more podcasts Myheartradio. You can visit the iHeartRadio app,
(40:13):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Thanks us always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Dylan Fagan
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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