When Mountain Dew recently teased a new flavor hitting shelves early next year, it did so with a sense of conviction: “Releasing nationwide but will sell out in Utah immediately.”
The new flavor capitalizes on a growing trend that has roots in Utah: dirty soda.
Dirty Mountain Dew Cream Soda Dew mixes the “citrus kick of Mountain Dew with a smooth cream flavor twist,” per USA Today. The drink will also have a zero sugar option.
“As a brand that has always embraced culture, Dirty Mountain Dew takes the dirty soda trend to a whole new level,” said Mark Kirkham, PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer of beverages in the U.S., in a statement to USA Today.
The drink is expected to be a permanent addition to the Mountain Dew lineup.
Utah’s love of dirty soda
Although the new flavor isn’t out yet, Mountain Dew seems to be confident it’ll be a hit in Utah.
Swig, one of the first soda shops, formed in St. George, Utah, in 2010 — helping to kick-start a trend that has created hundreds of soda shops throughout the Beehive State.
But dirty soda started to gain substantial traction outside of Utah when Gen Z musician Olivia Rodrigo posted a photo with a Swig cup in December 2021, per Deseret News.
That same year, Nicole Tanner, who founded Swig with her husband, Todd, told The New York Times that dirty soda isn’t just a trend for Utahns.
“Some people say, ‘Oh well, it’s just a Utah trend,’ and we kind of proved that wrong when we went to Oklahoma, and proved people like their soda everywhere,” she said. “It may sound so weird to some people who have never been, but it’s happiness in a cup. I’ve always known from the start that this is something that can and should go everywhere.”
What do the early reviews say?
- The Takeout website: “Cream soda enthusiasts will taste the creaminess they love, but may not enjoy the citrus notes. Mountain Dew fans, on the other hand, will just be thrown by the vanilla. In the end, this isn’t going to convert anyone to a cream soda lover, and it’s just not going to feel enough like a true dirty soda to satisfy dirty soda fans.”
- Zach Ciampa, who runs the Snachwithzach food and beverage news account (300K-plus followers on Instagram) said the “big clash of flavors” didn’t work for him, though he did like the full sugar version over the zero sugar option.