Mountain Dew is a carbonated beverage brand that has recently built a reputation by adding as many inexplicably named flavors as possible (as long as there is an equally inexplicable glow-stick-looking food dye to match it). The original expansion of the Mountain Dew product family included classics such as the red “Code Red” and the blue “Voltage”. However, in recent years it seems as if they have run out of ideas. Many of the new flavors released taste like slightly worse versions of already released flavors. This summer, Mountain Dew has released three July 4th flavors with patriotic names because there’s nothing more American than downing a bottle of aspartame. Will these flavors be gas or ass?
Liberty Chill
I can’t decide what flavor this drink is, and I don’t think the creators can either considering it is marketed as “50 flavors in 1.” The chemical tomfoolery that is this drink has resulted in a blue concoction that looks like the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. Upon smelling this drink, it smelled of nothing other than a generic fruit candy with not even a hint of the original citrus that Mountain Dew is known for. After tasting the flavorsome fluid, I still could not comprehend the flavor. Initially, I tasted lemon-lime, but then the flavor shifted into something that tasted like sour Trolli gummy worms. Whatever the taste was, I thought it was overall a “meh” flavor. Most of the online soda community found this soda disgusting but personally I’d give it a 5/10.
Star Spangled Splash
Probably the one with the stupidest name, Star Spangled Splash offers a similar red tone reminiscent of “Code Red”. Unlike the other red soda which is often described as cherry flavored, Star Spangled Splash claims to be “red berry flavored”, whatever the hell that means. The drink smelled like kool aid and to some degree even tasted like it. I could hardly taste the Mountain Dew flavor that at least has a presence in the various other alterations of the signature formula. If you gave me this drink blindfolded, I wouldn’t have guessed this was Mountain Dew. The soda instead tastes like strawberry-flavored Crush which I actually think is an OK soda. As Mountain Dew though, it’s a bad beverage. I give it 5/10.
Freedom Fusion
This is one of those flavors that looks like a cleaning solution. Ever since the release of the “Cherry Glacier” Gatorade, other companies have been producing this white, opaque color in their sodas that I find quite unappetizing. I assume this is to make the drink look cold on account of the “icy” effect the color gives off. The flavor claimed to be peach lemonade flavor, which sounded pretty good as Mountain Dew has always handled lemonade flavors well (my personal favorite Mountain Dew is “Spark”, which is raspberry lemonade). The smell of the sodapop was reminiscent of the original lemon-lime variation of the drink but the flavor was quite pleasant. The drink actually tasted like peach lemonade. In other words, you get what you pay for with this bottle of fizz. 7/10.
Overall, this selection of flavors isn’t the worst Mountain Dew has ever released but these are certainly not the best sodas in the world. Overall, I wouldn’t bother going anywhere near these sodas with the exception of Freedom Fusion. However, because these sodas are pretty generic and uninspiring, on the gas or ass rating scale these sodas are complete ass!
Bonus Flavor: Infinite Swirl
Upon finishing the original edition of this article, I had the other summer flavor of Mountain Dew which is not associated with the original three 4th of July flavors. The turquoise blue color caught me off guard given its pineapple flavor. It should be noted however, that this variation of Mountain Dew is only available at 7/11, making it a store exclusive. This makes the experience all the more enjoyable in my opinion. The official flavor is berry and pineapple, however, I didn’t taste any berries. Despite this, it remains the best soda of the summer. 9/10, complete gas.