Tag: Mtn Dew

REVIEW: Limited Edition 2023 Mtn Dew VooDEW

Erin 17 Comments

Back for a 5th Halloween season, VooDEW Grim is here to deliver another mystery flavored ghost white soda wrapped in spooky graphics. In years past, the flavors have all been candy-themed, and while they were intended to represent fairly specific candies, like 2020’s “Fruity Candy Explosion” basically being Skittles, this year’s edition partners Mtn Dew with an actual candy brand.

They’ve offered up a few not particularly subtle hints about the flavor, so I’m going to be equally as unsubtle with offering my guess. If you’d rather try it without being biased, now is the time to pull your reaper hood over your eyes and slowly back away into your graveyard. Try not to trip over that mummy with the mohawk.

This year’s VooDEW is available in both regular and zero sugar, and I tried both before I did any research as to what the flavor was. The zero version was the first I found, and sniffing it, I thought it had a familiar scent, but beyond “fruity candy soda,” I couldn’t have told you what it was. Tasting it had a similar effect, except that I was totally distracted by the artificial sweeteners. As someone who typically enjoys all sorts of sodas, including zero and diet types, I’m surprised I found this one so offensive, but I just couldn’t overlook it. I guess I don’t want fake sugar when I’m drinking my candy?

I was feeling like this year’s flavor might be a disappointment, but thankfully, a friendly apparition in the form of the regular variety showed up in my grocer’s cooler. Things are much improved here. There’s a citrusy lemon-lime aspect in the vein of normal Dew (or maybe closer to Sprite or 7UP) with notes of other fruits like cherry. It leans much more sweet than last year’s decidedly sour edition.

It had me feeling like I should know what this is, but I’m not sure I could have placed it exactly without the help of Dew’s clues. With them, though, it made perfect sense. Calling it “SCAIRY” and dropping a red balloon emoji on their social media along with a Blair Witch-style video of people running through the woods being stalked by a red balloon, I can pretty confidently say this VooDEW is Airheads flavored. Typically, the non-color of the brew is part of the disguise with the blank slate not offering up any hints as to what it might taste like. This year, I think the flavor is hiding in plain sight: White Mystery Airheads. The candy is made with leftover flavorings that are hanging around, so if you try this and think it tastes like some blend of cherry, lime, raspberry, and whatever else, you’re probably right.

Overall, VooDEW 5 is a sweet, smooth drinking soda that I think most people will find enjoyable regardless of how they feel about Airheads as a candy. If you’re able to get the regular version of this scary sip, I highly recommend it over the zero.

Purchased Price: $2.29 (regular), $2.00 (zero sugar)
Size: 20 fl oz
Purchased at: Jewel-Osco (regular), 7-Eleven (zero sugar)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (regular), 6 out of 10 (zero sugar)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Regular – 270 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 80 milligrams of sodium, 73 grams of total carbs, 73 grams of total sugars (incl. 73 grams of added sugars), and 0 grams of protein. Zero Sugar – 0 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 80 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of total carbs, 0 grams of total sugars (incl. 0 grams of added sugars), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Mtn Dew Baja Caribbean Splash and Baja Passionfruit Punch

Marvo 3 Comments

“Always two there are. No more. No less.”

That quote from a green, wise old man can be applied to the Sith and with annual Mtn Dew Baja flavor extension rollouts.

With the new Baja Caribbean Splash and Baja Passionfruit Punch, Mtn Dew has turned almost all the most popular tropical fruits into Baja flavors. (Waiting for banana and papaya, Mtn Dew.) Pineapple has been used twice, mango once, whatever is in tropical punch once, and then there are these two latest varieties — Caribbean Splash with a blast of guava and Passionfruit Punch with a blast of, well, you know.

Baja Caribbean Splash smells tropical, but its aroma doesn’t quite bring guava to mind. Its orange-red hue also doesn’t quite remind me of guava flesh, which in my head is pinkish. But its flavor is guava, although a lot milder than I’m used to because I grew up drinking many cans of this. Although I wish the guava stood out more, Caribbean Splash is tasty, and I like it slightly more than the other new Baja flavor.

Even though the can’s artwork shows a volcano spewing out many purple passionfruit, I was surprised by Baja Passionfruit Punch’s purple color because I grew up drinking many cans of this which depicts yellow-skinned fruit (lilikoi is passionfruit here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). But the soda’s slightly tart taste does bring to mind the passionfruit juice I’ve consumed over the years, but much like Caribbean Splash, the tropical fruit flavor needs to be punched up a bit. Also, I don’t know if the purple color is influencing my taste buds, but its aftertaste made me think of Mtn Dew Pitch Black.

Overall, Baja Caribbean Splash and Baja Passionfruit Punch are great and worth a try to fulfill your fruity caffeine needs. But I was more impressed with previous Baja Dew flavors, like Baja Gold and Baja Mango Gem. Anyway, they’re still good, and I look forward to next year’s Mtn Dew Baja offerings (again, waiting for banana and papaya).

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 12 oz cans
Purchased at: eBay
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Caribbean Splash), 7 out of 10 (Passionfruit Punch)
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) Caribbean Splash – 170 calories, 0 grams of fat, 50 milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 44 grams of fiber, 44 grams of sugar (including 44 grams of added sugar), 0 grams of protein, and 55 milligrams of caffeine. Passionfruit Punch – 170 calories, 0 grams of fat, 50 milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 44 grams of fiber, 44 grams of sugar (including 44 grams of added sugar), 0 grams of protein, and 55 milligrams of caffeine.

REVIEW: Mtn Dew Summer Freeze

Marvo 6 Comments

Mtn Dew Summer Freeze is a Dew with a blast of summer Americana, but after tasting it, it’s more like a Dew with a blast of nostalgia. Because is it just me, or does this taste like another Dew flavor? A case of deja DEW?

While Summer Freeze’s bright blue color brings antifreeze to mind, its aroma reminds me of the fruity frozen novelty represented by the red, white, and blue ice pops on the can. Its flavor has a punch of blue raspberry with a bit of cherry on the back end. There’s also a hint of citrus that represents the white lime/lemon part of the patriotic pop.

For the most part, this does taste like a melted popsicle, but I can’t shake the fact that, as someone who has done durations with the different Dews, this Summer Freeze might be a slight reformulation or renaming of a previous flavor. But, overall, it’s a fun tasting limited time addition to the Dew lineup.

What’s also fun is the can’s graphics, which are filled with red, white, and blue bro-sicles that look like they’re trying to get into as much mischief and fun as they can before they melt to oblivion. The images are also sprinkled with Dew references, like the ice cream truck’s license plate being MD1940, which refers to Mtn Dew being invented in 1940; then there’s “DTD” on the fire hydrant stands, which stands for, everyone say it with me, Do the Dew; and then the “DSA” tattooed on the stick of the upside down popsicle that looks like it’ll melt to oblivion first, which might be a nod to a previous summer Dew, DEW-S-A.

Ohhhhhhhhh!

Could this be a reformulation of DEW-S-A? It was a combination of Mtn Dew Code Red (cherry), Whiteout (citrus), and Voltage (raspberry), but made during Dew’s dark days of adding artificial sweeteners with high fructose corn syrup to bring down the drink’s sugar numbers a little. Perhaps Summer Freeze is the result when the sucralose is taken out of DEW-S-A, and maybe that’s why it tastes so familiar to me. Oh, speaking of artificial sweeteners, this is also available in a Zero Sugar variety.

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 12 fl oz cans/12 pack
Purchased at: eBay
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 160 calories, 0 grams of fat, 50 milligrams of sodium, 43 grams of carbohydrates, 43 grams of sugar (including 43 grams of added sugar), 0 grams of protein, and 55 milligrams of caffeine.

REVIEW: Mtn Dew Energy Pitch Black

Marvo 1 Comment

NOTE: Mtn Dew Energy Pitch Black will be released in January 2023. Thanks to Mtn Dew for sending samples.

Mtn Dew Energy Pitch Black’s can SCREAMS Halloween. The purple and black colors bring witches and nighttime to mind, the green makes me think of monsters and zombies, and the white letters could represent ghosts, mummies, or the white void of nothingness that should scare us all.

But you’re probably reading this around its release in January 2023, so it’s past All Hallows Eve. However, the original Mountain Dew Pitch Black soda had a history with the holiday. It debuted during the 2004 Halloween season, and a sequel came out a year after.

While Mtn Dew Energy Pitch Black has nothing to do with Halloween, it does have a lot of caffeeine. Like others in the Mtn Dew Energy line, a can has 180 milligrams of the good stuff and ingredients that help support your immune system and give you a mental boost.

This energy drink is riding on the return of Mtn Dew Pitch Black and the introduction of Pitch Black Zero Sugar, both of which I reviewed earlier. In that review, I wrote that the zero sugar one tastes like a watered down version of the original and that I love the flavor of Pitch Black so much that I can’t get over the taste compromises that were made. But this Mtn Dew Energy flavor is much better tasting than the Zero Sugar version, and it accomplishes that with just four grams of sugar. There are hints of artificial sweeteners in it, but they’re less noticeable, probably thanks to the addition of fruit juice. It has enough of the original Pitch Black’s grape flavor and sugariness that I could see myself picking this up instead of the regular soda when I want a larger caffeine kick that’s almost twice as much as the sodas.

Despite the can describing the flavor as a “dark citrus punch,” it tastes like the grape Pitch Black from almost two decades ago. I don’t care how Mtn Dew describes it. It tastes like the original to me.

In my review of Mtn Dew Energy Code Red, I wrote that it might be my favorite in the energy drink line, but it will have to move over because this is now my favorite. I hope it never disappears. Or if it does, I hope Mtn Dew brings it back for Halloween.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from Mtn Dew. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 16 fl oz can
Purchased at: Received from Mtn Dew
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 25 calories, 0 grams of fat, 170 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of sugar (including 0 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Mtn Dew Pitch Black (2023) and Mtn Dew Pitch Black Zero Sugar

Marvo 17 Comments

NOTE: Mtn Dew Pitch Black and the Zero Sugar version will be released in January 2023. Thanks to Mtn Dew for sending samples.

Mountain Dew Pitch Black made its debut in 2004, a time before Mountain Dew lost most of its vowels to become Mtn Dew, which I assume happened because it drank a sugary soda and didn’t brush those vowels after. While Mtn Dew’s name got shorter on bottles and cans, Pitch Black’s description has gotten slightly longer. While the original was a Dew with a blast of black grape, this latest version describes itself as having a blast of dark citrus punch flavor.

Wait. What?

I have so many questions now. What the heck is dark citrus and why does it sound like something that would cause me to lose hit points in an RPG? Why doesn’t Mtn Dew say this is dark grape flavored? What is it hiding? Is it a dark secret? Is that dark secret hiding in a dark cave? Is it Batman? But I guess the most important question is: Does this Mtn Dew Pitch Black taste the same as Mountain Dew Pitch Black?

Yes, and it’s confusing that Mtn Dew is trying to push it as a “dark citrus punch” because when I drink it, all I can think of is grape Pitch Black. To be honest, despite it being one of my favorite Dew flavors of all time (Pitch Black I, not Pitch Black II), I kind of forgot what it smells and tastes like since it’s been so long. But all those memories came (pardon my use of this verb, Mtn Dew) blasting back with the first sniff and sip. Along with those memories came a bit of frustration that this flavor doesn’t come back as often as it should or isn’t permanent because it’s as delightful as I remember.

But Mtn Dew has not only brought back the beloved Pitch Black, it has also spawned a Zero Sugar version. It smells like the original and its flavor hits all the right grape-y notes, but it tastes like a somewhat watered-down version of the original with an artificial sweetener chaser. It’s fine, but I like regular Pitch Black so much that I feel it’s hard for me to accept the taste compromises that the zero sugar version has. There are other Zero Sugar Dew flavors that I don’t mind over the full sugar version, but this is not one of them.

I’m so happy Pitch Black is back, although I’m a little sad it’s no longer attached to Halloween. Enjoy it before it ends up back in the Mtn Dew vault, which I assume is in a dark cave in a dew flower-covered mountain that also contains whatever dark secret Mtn Dew is hiding.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from Mtn Dew. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 20 oz bottles
Purchased at: Received from Mtn Dew
Rating: 9 out of 10 (Original), 6 out of 10 (Zero Sugar)
Nutrition Facts: (20 oz bottle) Original – 280 calories, 0 grams of fat, 95 milligrams of sodium, 75 grams of carbohydrates, 75 grams of sugar, (including 75 grams of added sugar), 0 grams of protein, and 91 milligrams of caffeine. Zero Sugar – 0 calories, 0 grams of fat, 85 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, and 91 milligrams of caffeine.