Food
10 Discontinued Mountain Dew Flavors You Miss
Mountain dew may not be as popular as Coke or Pepsi, but this green soda does have a loyal following. These soda fans enjoy the classic taste, but Mountain Dew has released a number of other flavors as well. Flavors like Typhoon and Solar flare have been discontinued, but are still missed.
10. Cherry On Top
Mountain Dew is one of the few varieties of soda that is known for its distinctive green color. But this doesn’t mean that Mountain Dew has to be green. Market research has shown that people think that red colored drinks are sweeter than brown colored or clear drink with the same flavoring. So it made sense that Mountain Dew’s Citrus Cherry would be colored red even when it was called Game Fuel. This Cherry flavor was part of Mountain Dew’s Game Fuel Promotion that was aimed at attracting the ever-growing population of gamers. In 2007 this flavor was marketed directly with the Xbox 360 games called Halo. Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry had packaging that featured the Halo video game logo and the game’s main character, Master Chief was featured prominently as well. The sweet, sugary taste and extra jolt of caffeine buzz were just what the gamers wanted to fuel their long sessions in front of video screens. Apparently, saving the world from aliens or mowing down zombies is a very thirsty business. Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry was discontinued when the promotion ran its course after a short run. However, the Game Fuel Promotion has returned several times with Citrus Cherry as one of the star players to fuel thirsty gamers. You don’t have to be a video game jockey to enjoy this Mountain Dew, but you will have to wait until the soda company decides to bring the promotion back again.
9. America Does The Dew
This patriotic looking Mountain Dew was released in the United States in the spring of 2017. This flavor was meant to commemorate two important days in America – Memorial Day and Independence Day. The name DEW.S.A. is a nod to U.S.A. and the red, white and blue packaging is of course a celebration of America’s flag. This Mountain Dew flavor was marketed as a combination of three existing soda flavors: Code Red, White Out and Voltage. Apparently these three particular flavors combine to make a very sweet, purple soda. Although officially this soda is not purple in color. The folks at Mountain Dew say it is Dark Magenta, but it looks like purple. This seasonal flavor was said to be similar in flavor to a previously released flavor – Holiday Brew. Unfortunately for Patriotic Mountain Dew drinkers everywhere DEW.S.A. was discontinued after a run of only a few months and didn’t even last until labor day. In 2019 DEW.S.A. was officially replaced by a new flavor called Liberty Brew. Regardless of the name change this flavor was also made from the three flavors that made up DEW.S.A. – Code Red, White Out and Voltage. This mixture of flavors wouldn’t seem to be winning combination even though Mountain Dew’s heart was in the right place.
8. The Revolution Will Be Carbonated
Mountain Dew Revolution was originally part of a promotion called DEWmocracy. The promotion described this flavor as “DEW Infused with Wild Berry Fruit flavor and Ginseng with natural and artificial flavors.” The light blue color seems like a good choice for this Mountain Dew Flavor. It is sort of a bright sky blue that makes it look clean and refreshing. Some people who have tasted this flavor have described it as a combination of White Out and Baja Blast. Mountain Dew Revolution was created by soda fans as part of the DEWmocracy promotion and competed against the flavors Supernova and Voltage. Unfortunately for the Revolution it fell to third in the voting while Voltage came in first in the voting. By winning the vote it won the right to be a Mountain Dew permanent flavor in August, 2008. In 2011 a new Mountain Dew promotion hyped the idea that the company was holding on to a secret stash of the Revolution variant that it planned to release to the public. Thirsty fans of this enigmatic soda could enter to win this secret stash at Mountain Dew’s Throwback Shack website. A few years later, not surprisingly, the winner of the stash of Revolution soda put one of the bottles of soda up for sale on eBay and bidding for that single bottle went as high as $33.
7. A Darker Shade Of Black
This dramatically dark Mountain Dew flavor was appropriately known as Pitch Black in the United States and Alerte Noire in Canada. For obvious marketing reasons it was released around Halloween in 2004 as part of a promotion. In 2005 a second version of the flavor with a sour taste called Pitch Black II was also released on Halloween. Pitch Black Mountain Dew is said to be a mixture of black grape soda with the classic Mountain Dew flavor. The result is a dark purple, almost black soda so the “Pitch Black” name is clearly fitting. A Slurpee flavor named Darth Dew was released by 7-Eleven stores to promote the third movie in the Star Wars prequel trilogy Revenge of the Sith. This Slurpee flavor was only around during the theatrical run of the movie than disappeared from soda fountains. Just as Anakin Skywalker seemingly came back from the brink of death as Darth Vader Pitch Black found new life in 2011 and 2016 for a pair of promotions that pitted Pitch Black against other limited edition flavors such as Typhoon and Baja Blast. Pitch Black won the DEWcision in 2016 to become a permanent flavor. Pitch Black had some success under other names internationally in countries like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. However, in the United States however, this flavor remained something of a Black Sheep and was finally discontinued after several years of consistently poor sales.
6. Shine On!
Mountain Dew’s Dewshine is an interesting soda from a giant beverage maker because this one seems to be packaged and marketed in a way to encourage customers to associate this soda with “fun” alcoholic beverages like Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Bottles of Dewshine even featured labeling that assured customers that this soda was indeed a non-alcoholic beverage. This reinforces the idea that the company knew they were marketing the soda in such as way that might confuse some of its customers – and maybe even give it some extra publicity. This is a strange decision for a soda company whose core customers are children. But leaving this aside Dewshine is a clear soda, which is a first for the Mountain Dew brand that usually prefers to impress us with dramatic colors. This limited time Dew featured a refreshing citrus flavor and was touted as one of the rare sodas being being made with sugar from sugar cane instead of the sweeter tasing corn syrup that has largely replaced sugar in these kinds of products. Unlike most soft drinks on the market today, Mountain Dew Dewshine was sold only in 12 oz. glass bottles as well as a selection of jugs. This unique Mountain Dew variation was released to a thirsty public in 2015 and was discontinued about two years later. Perhaps it would have sold better if it actually had contained some alcohol and been marketed to adults instead of just pretending.
5. A Whirlwind Of Flavor
Mountain Dew’s flavor variant known as Cyclone had the distinction of being available as a fountain drink only at Speedway gas station locations. This gives the soda flavor something of an air of exclusivity as Mountain Dew and Speedway hope to draw thirsty customers to these specific locations to get their sweet Cyclone fix. It was available at some Speedway locations in March of 2019 then made a wider lease in April of 2019 replacing Pitch Black, another Mountain Dew flavor variant. Cyclone is described as having a citrus punch flavor and sports a unique maroon color that is pretty rare among sodas. The soda company describes this drink as “DEW with a Blast of Natural & Artificial Citrus Punch Flavor.” According to the available nutritional information Cyclone has a very similar recipe to a soda called Sangria Blast. Even Cyclone’s vibrant red color is similar to Sangria Blast’s particular shade of red. The name “Cyclone” was originally used for a test flavor back in 2009 that eventually became known as Typhoon. This Mountain Dew flavor was later discontinued, but was able to live on in the form of the Cyclone flavor, at least for a time. So if you loved Typhoon Mountain Dew hurry to your nearest Speedway gas station and fill up on Cyclone before it’s discontinued once again.
4. Have A Blast
Mountain Dew’s Sangria Blast flavor featured a similar maroon color to that of another flavor variant called Cyclone. But Cyclone had a fruit punch flavor while Sangrita experimented with an exotic Cherry Pomegranate taste before settling on a more conventional citrus punch flavor. Mountain Dew Sangrita first became available in April of 2015 at the same time that Baja Blast enjoyed its second release to a thirsty public. Mountain Dew Sangrita Blast was sold throughout the Summer months of 2015 then taken off the shelves. May of 2015 saw the release of an icy variant of Sangrita Blast at Taco Bell stores. This Mountain Dew variant replaced a Snapple Lemonade Freeze that Taco Bell stores had been offering to customers at its soda fountains. This replacement drink only lasted a few months at the popular fast food restaurants before it too was replaced by another soft drink flavor. The Sangrita Blast flavor was available for a couple of years, but was eventually replaced in 2017 by a flavor called Spiked Lemonade. Like with some of the other discontinued Mountain Dew flavors there is always a chance that Sangrita Blast will make a return to store shelves or Taco Bell for another limited run. Any announcement about this flavor would likely be made in the Spring because this soda was previously released in time for the hot and thirsty Summer months.
3. Super Dew
This fruit flavored Mountain Dew variant first appeared on store shelves in 2008 as part of the DEWmocracy promotion. Supernova came in second in the online voting – losing out to Voltage. These names sound more like Transformers than soda, but regardless Supernova reappeared a few years later as one of the soft drink flavors included in the Back By Popular DEWmand promotion in the Summer of 20111 before disappearing once again. Supernova also appeared in Canada’s version of DEWmocracy, but unfortunately it didn’t fare any better than it had in this promotion than it had in the United States. This flavor features an exotic mix of strawberry, melon and a touch of Ginseng. Ginseng has become a popular ingredient in many of sports drinks that are marketed to more health-minded customers. Ginseng can also be found in several sodas besides Mountain Dew Supernova. The soda company also put out a diet version of Supernova variety that met with limited success before being discontinued. In most locations the Supernova flavor is a somewhat unique bright magenta color, but in some places such as Finland and Denmark it is sold as a bright orange colored drink. Also, in these Scandinavian countries Mountain Dew SuperNova has found a permanent home. Sadly, Supernova has not been available in the United States since 2011 so if you still want a taste of this liquid sunshine you’ll have to take a trip to Scandinavia to do this Dew.
2. Storm Warning
Mountain Dew’s limited-time flavor known as Typhoon had previously been known as flavor #509. This Dew variant had taken part in the promotion known as the second DEWmocracy in 2009. Taste testers in 17 cities across the country compared #509 with a couple of other Mountain Dew variants. When the online votes were tallied flavor #509 became one of the three flavor finalists. Typhoon came in second after White Out in the final round of testing. These two flavors were introduced to the soda public in 2010. Typhoon was similar in flavor to the sweet tropical punch taste of Mountain Dew flavor known as Solar Flare, but with a more pinkish-orange color. Typhoon was rereleased as a diet soda as part of the FanDEWmonium promotion, but this time it failed to crack the top three in voting and was not made available to the public at this time. However, the Typhoon flavor did see a limited rerelease in 2011 as part of a promotion called Back by Popular DEWmand. This time the flavor was sold only in 25 oz. bottles at Walmart stores. This soda was only available for a few more months before being discontinued once again, but not for good. It seems like this Mountain Dew flavor refused to go away quietly because in May of 2019 PepsiCo announced that Mountain Dew Typhoon would be released again after all, but it was not clear how long it would be available so you’ll have to stay on your toes if you want to get some this time around.
1. Taste The Sunshine
Despite its name, this Mountain Dew variant is not a spicy soda. Solar Flare was a red-orange soda and had a sweet fruit punch flavor. A fruit punch flavor was competition for the popular Hawaiian Punch product, although this drink is not carbonated. This limited-time flavor was introduced in 2014 and was available only at 7-Eleven soda fountains in the United States, Canada and the Philippines. This flavor was also available as a 7-Eleven Slurpee drink for a limited time before being discontinued. For some reason it was not available at supermarkets in cans and bottles like most soft drinks. Limiting its distribution doesn’t seem like a good idea for Mountain Dew, but does for 7-Eleven.This soda variant was marketed as “DEW with a Blast of Tropical Punch” and it tasted as fruity-sweet as you would imagine. In 2015 Mountain began pulling Solar Flare from the convenience store fountain locations and it was not available at most locations after 2016. However, due to continued strong sales at specific 7-Eleven stores Solar Flare was available sporadically as late as 2019. This soda was still available in the Philippines at least as late as 2017. Soda lovers in the Eastern half of the United States have searched in vain for Solar Flare Mountain Dew, but for some customers in the Western half of the country it has not yet been completely discontinued. A number of thirsty customers out West have continued to enjoy its distinctly sweet flavor for the time being.