The name is a reference to bootlegging alcohol. And their original packaging literally had a dude with a moonshine jug on it, same with the modern Throwback label.
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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It's original slogan was It tickles yer innards.
"It'll tickle your innards!"
Most 1920s sex offender threat ever 😬😄
a reference to bootlegging alcohol
Kinda, sorta. "Mountain dew" is a euphemism for moonshine in the southern US.
The definition of "bootlegging" varies by who you ask. Some say it's any kind of unregulated activity related to alcohol, which can include brewing; some insist it only refers to the smuggling or transport of the finished product.
So, depending on which definition of "bootlegging" you subscribe to, it may refer to that. But "mountain dew" means "moonshine" because most people who make it live in the Appalachian mountains
The definition of bootlegging is so broad that I think you can even legally be charged with bootlegging if you source your alcohol products for sale from anywhere other than a distributor, e.g. buying in bulk from Costco or a discount liquor place to stock the bar.
In general, I think it typically means illegal transport and sale, since not too many people have historically trusted moonshiners or developed a taste for moonshine. There was that weird moment in the mid-2010s where reality TV caused a huge interest in moonshine, but that was just distillers realizing that they could capitalize on a trend by making unaged 80-proof corn liquor, throwing some cinnamon sticks and apple slices in a Mason jar, and calling it “moonshine.”
It was originally made as a mixer for whiskey!
https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-mountain-dew
The barefoot hillbillie with a beard and a jug was a standard trope in cartoons.
Bugs Bunny ran into them all the time.
Also, I believe it was originally marketed as a mixer
- Remove beverage
- Add battery acid
Two steps, fair enough
I can do it in one:
- Classify beverage as battery acid
Pepsi Co once won a court case against a man who claimed a mouse was packaged into a bottle and sold to him, but Pepsi's defence was that "a mouse present during bottling would have mostly dissolved by now."
That was actually mountain dew (though mountain dew is owned by pepsi)
Yeah I meant Pepsi as in the Company. I'll edit it to say "Pepsi Co"
That's pretty meaningless, though. There's a difference between drinking an acidic beverage, and soaking in it for months.
Yeah I occasionally drink the stuff, still a pretty metal story, though.
For sure, it has similar energy to the "my penis is too small to see from that distance" defense from a flasher.
Jesus christ 😳😳😳
Do native english speakers really see it that way? Because as someone with english as a second language, I don't connect the name to Mountains, Dew or water or nature in any way. When I see that soda's name, I read it in my mind with a sort of edgy gamery ad voice
DO THE DEW!!!!!! ™️
Absinthe used to be called 'the green fairy' because it was supposed to take you to Neverland.
'Green Fairy' would be a great name for a soda, imho
Absinthe makes the mind go wander.
You offend me with your rank amateurism
This isn’t where I parked my car.
I've not had the american mountain dew, but I heard it's pretty different from the european one :3 the one here just tastes like citrusy soda.. a bit like orange and lemon mix, if I had to place it I guess
Funny thing is we have a local soda here with the name that would translate as "dew" :3. I do prefer that one; especially the lime & cactus flavour
Never tried the European one but the one here tastes like a manufacturing precursor to battery acid
As a fellow enjoyer of battery acid manufacturing precursors, I agree, it's one of the tastier ones.
Lime & cactus sounds tasty. I love how sodas in other countries are more subdued yet still tasty, and the US is like “here’s 20 variations of antifreeze.”
Honestly it's even interesting for me to think of the sodas here as more subdued cause to me they're all quite sweet and strong tasting lol :3 I have heard that from people who have sampled both though.
Also on the note of antifreeze.. it made me think of american fanta, which is an orange see-through liquid, and apparently doesn't even really taste of oranges (?), meanwhile here in europe it's a more opaque orangy yellow and is made with orange juice :3. I think it's probably the easiest to see difference between all the sodas we have in both countries
The US is notorious for making everything overly sweet. I avoid all of that stuff, with a couple exceptions. Europe seems to have some semblance of sanity and regulations when it comes to ingredients. Like the Fanta you described sounds amazing, but the US version is an occasional guilty pleasure for me (despite tasting nothing like true orange).
It's not something I've seen around where I live, but in some parts of europe you can also get something called orangina, which has more orange juice than fanta, and also orange pulp I think :3
Orangina used to be sold in the US, though I haven't seen it on shelves in many years, if not decades.
I’ve heard of that and seen the bottle, but never had it. It sounds amazing!
What drink are you referring to in second paragraph?
Rasa :3 they also make syrups, and water, and fruit water (which I think is what la croix is) and other stuff ^^
Give me the crab juice!
If basic Mountain Dew is an Acid Battery, then the Frost Bite flavor is a jump starter
Mountain Dew tastes way too much like the liquid from a pickle jar. Like it's not enjoyable for me at all
The liquid from a pickle jar is delicious, dont ever compare it to nasty soda