'Mountain Dew' was originally Southern and/or Scots-Irish slang for moonshine (i.e., homemade whiskey or poitín), as referenced in the Irish folk song ' The Rare Old Mountain Dew', dating from 1882. Packaging A 1950s Mountain Dew advertisement sign in Tonto, Arizona, showing the cartoon character 'Willie the Hillbilly' In 1999, the Virginia legislature recognized Tip Corporation president Bill Jones and the town of Marion for their role in the history of Mountain Dew. In 1964, Pepsico purchased the Tip Corporation and thus acquired the rights to Mountain Dew. The Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia, bought the rights to Mountain Dew, revising the flavor and launching it in 1961.

Gordon and the Hartman brothers subsequently made a deal to bottle Mountain Dew by the Tri-Cities Beverage Corporation in Johnson City, Tennessee. Enuf, was introduced to Mountain Dew when he met the Hartman brothers on a train and they offered him a sample. Ĭharles Gordon, who had partnered with William Swartz to bottle and promote Dr. Originally a 19th-century slang term for whiskey, especially Highland Scotch whisky, the Mountain Dew name was trademarked for the soft drink in 1948. Soft drinks were sold regionally in the 1930s, and the Hartmans had difficulty in Knoxville obtaining their preferred soda to mix with liquor, preferably whiskey, so the two developed their own. Tennessee bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman developed Mountain Dew as a mixer in the 1940s. 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.

As of 2017, Mountain Dew represented a 6.6% share of the carbonated soft drinks market in the U.S. under the name 'Mountain Dew Energy' since 2010 and in Ireland since the spring of 2011. A similarly named but different-tasting product, with a recipe more similar to the original American product has been sold in the U.K. Production was extended to the United Kingdom in 1996, but was phased out in 1998. 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. In 2001, a cherry-flavored variant called Code Red debuted. Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988, followed by Mountain Dew Red, which was introduced and discontinued in 1988. īetween the 1940s and 1980s there was only one variety of Mountain Dew, which was citrus-flavored and caffeinated in most markets. 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. 'Bill' Jones of the Tip Corporation further refined the formula, launching that version of Mountain Dew in 1961. The rights to this formula were obtained by the Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia. A revised formula was created by Bill Bridgforth in 1958. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries, is a carbonated soft drink brand, produced and owned by PepsiCo.

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