Mountain Dew is a caffeinated, sweet, citrus-flavoured soft drink produced by PepsiCo, Inc. The formula was made and first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee, USA through the 1940s, then in Fayetteville, North Carolina by Barney and Ally Hartman.
The name Mountain Dew was first trademarked by two brothers, Barney and Ally Hartman, who ran a bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Soft drinks were regional in the 1930s, and the Hartmans had difficulty in Knoxville obtaining their preferred soda to mix with liquor, preferably whiskey, so the two men developed their own. Used as a mixer with whisky, it was a far cry from what it has become today, though people still mix it with various alcoholic beverages.
The perfect Mountain Dew taste many know and love today is credited to Bill Bridgforth, who joined the company in 1958. The original bottle was made to look as though it was a bootlegged beverage like those made in mountain stills and was decorated with hillbillies and outhouses, and pseudo-facts like 'Filled by Ed and Gene'.
The Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia bought the rights to Mountain Dew, revising the flavour and launching it in 1961. In 1964, PepsiCo purchased the Tip Corporation, then Mountain Dew’s appeal became nationwide.
It has been introduced globally at various stages, but the USA remains its stronghold. The days of outhouses and hillbillies are past: the target audience is now different. Current Mountain Dew's commercials appeal to fun-seeking, wild, outdoorsy teenagers making Mountain Dew one of the popular soft drinks in America.
Between the 1940s and 1980s, there was just one variety of Mountain Dew, which was citrus-flavored and caffeinated in most markets.
Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988, followed by Mountain Dew Red, which was introduced and subsequently discontinued in 1988. In 2001, a cherry flavor called CodeRed debuted. As of 2007, Mountain Dew was the fourth-best-selling carbonated soft drink in the United States, behind only Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola, and Diet Coke.
Carbonated soft drink Mountain Dew
