If this is what a “Deeper Darker Dew” implies, then sign me up! My experience was nothing like this commercial, but it’s worth a watch:
Just kidding, it wasn’t worth watching. Hopefully you didn’t fall for that whole embedded video trick. I picked up this can after being out of the Mountain Dew game for as long as I can remember. I don’t have a vendetta against Mountain Dew, it was just never something I gravitated towards. Maybe that’s because I never got into multi-player PC gaming or long session Dungeons and Dragons parties. I was a cool kid.
That was another trick, I wasn’t a cool kid. I just never drank much Mountain Dew. I remembered it being citrusy and sweet, and this Black Label variant follows that lead. However, it follows it through a slightly different path. They replace the corn syrup with traditional sugar, and the citrus comes from “dark berry” and other natural flavors. What’s a dark berry? Well, the can has grape juice. I guess those can be dark. Citric acid is also tart, but the remainder of the natural flavors are a mystery. The bottom entry in the ingredients leads me to believe that it’s some sort of genetically engineered frankenberry possibly related to the breakfast cereal of a similar name.
This was also surprisingly good. I got a lot of bright grape flavors mixed with other generic citrus. It was undeniably sweet, but not overly syrupy. The choice of grape juice and orange juice concentrates really created a decent body to the drink. The label is also interesting, but I don’t think it achieved the look they were after. It’s marketed as sophisticated and classy, but for me the 16 ounce can looks more like malt liquor. In a can. If that doesn’t scream class, I don’t know what will.
So, while I’d rather drink it from a glass bottle, this is something I wouldn’t turn down in the future. I wouldn’t want 16 ounces of it, so I’ll probably never buy it for myself, but I’d happily share a can with someone. This is a 7 out of 10 for me on my rating scale which is shocking for something with Mountain Dew on the label.
Catalog:
Sampled September 2017, purchased at QFC grocery store (less than $2 for the can?)
The Sodafry 