Mountain Dew

This article is about the drink. For other uses, see Mountain Dew (disambiguation).
For home-made high-proof distilled spirits also known as mountain dew, see Moonshine.

Mountain Dew
New logo starting May 2025[1]
Plastic bottle of Mountain Dew as sold in Germany
TypeSoft drink
ManufacturerPepsiCo
Country of origin United States
IntroducedNovember 12, 1948; 76 years ago (1948-11-12)[2][3] (trademark granted)
FlavorCitrus (for other variants, see list)
Related products
Websitemountaindew.com
Alternative logo with "Mtn Dew" lettering, used in the United States and other countries beginning 2016
Alternative logo with "Mountain" fully spelled out

Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries, is a soft drink brand, produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. A revised formula was created by Bill Bridgforth[4] in 1958. The rights to this formula were obtained by the Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia.[5] William H. "Bill" Jones of the Tip Corporation further refined the formula, launching that version of Mountain Dew in 1961.[6] In August 1964, the Mountain Dew brand and production rights were acquired from Tip by the Pepsi-Cola company, and the distribution expanded across the United States and Canada.[7]

Between the 1940s and 1980s there was only one variety of Mountain Dew, which was citrus-flavored and caffeinated in most markets. Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988,[8] followed by Mountain Dew Red, which was introduced and discontinued in 1988.[9] In 2001, a cherry-flavored variant called Code Red debuted. Expansions of the product line have continued to this day, including specialty offerings, limited time productions, region-specific and retailer-specific flavors of Mountain Dew.

Production was extended to the United Kingdom in 1996,[10] but was phased out in 1998. A similarly named but different-tasting product, with a recipe more similar to the original American product[11] has been sold in the U.K. under the name "Mountain Dew Energy" since 2010 and in Ireland since the spring of 2011, but in 2015 it was changed to "Mountain Dew Citrus Blast" to shift away from the energy drink marketing. As of 2017, Mountain Dew represented a 6.6% share of the carbonated soft drinks market in the U.S.[12] Its competition includes the Coca-Cola Company's Mello Yello and Surge, and Keurig Dr Pepper's Sun Drop; Mountain Dew accounted for 80% of citrus soft drinks sold within the U.S. in 2010.[13][clarification needed]

  1. ^ John, Daniel (13 October 2024). "New Mountain Dew logo is a nostalgia-tinged hit". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stanford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Tabler, Dave (24 August 2018). "Yahoo— Mountain Dew!". Appalachian History. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  4. ^ Mason, Doug (16 September 2007). "Drinking in History". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014.
  5. ^ Maddry, Larry (6 August 1994). "Reprinted Article: Soft drink finally gets its Dew from small Virginia town". Virginian Pilot. Norfolk, VA. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  6. ^ Elledge, Glenna (27 July 1994). "Reprinted Article: Town of Marion recognizes 'Home of Mountain Dew". Smyth County News. Marion, VA. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014 – via Michael "Fred" Fredericks's Web Site.
  7. ^ Collins, Glenn (16 December 1996). "Coca-Cola, in Direct Attack on Pepsi, to Introduce Challenger to Mountain Dew". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011.
  8. ^ Smith, Andrew (2006). Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 188. ISBN 0-313-33527-3. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference dewhistbook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Archives, L. A. Times (11 February 1996). "Pepsi Pours Mountain Dew in Britain's 'Gulpable Gap'". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ^ "Mountain Dew - Q & A's". www.mountaindew.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Market share of the Mountain Dew brand in the United States from 2004 to 2017". Statista. 26 March 2019. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Branded Entertainment Could Boost PepsiCo". Seeking Alpha. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010.