Mountain Dew was Invented as Whiskey Mix
August 12, 2013 at 2:00 am Chad Upton 8 comments
About 4000 years ago, Whiskey (or Whisky) was invented to purify perfumes and aromatics. Now, some Whiskey is aged longer than many people were back then.
Soft drinks are a much more recent invention, although perhaps still older than you may think. Soda water was first introduced to the world by Joseph Priestley in 1767 when he published his paper, Impregnating Water with Fixed Air. Yes, that’s the real name of the paper.
Through a series of followup inventions, flavored soda became popular in the late 1800s, starting with lemon and orange varieties. Large soda bottlers and distributors weren’t common back in the 1930s, so the Hartman brothers invented their own whiskey mixer: Mountain Dew. The Hartman brothers sought advice from Coca-Cola about Mountain Dew, but Coke didn’t help. Pepsi was interested, albeit 35 years later, when they bought Mountain Dew.
Not only was Mountain Dew invented for Whiskey, it’s named after it too. The name “Mountain Dew” was a slang term for moonshine and of course moonshine is a slang term for homemade whiskey. It’s called “moonshine” because it was made at night to hide the smoke from the stills during prohibition.
There are many great Whiskeys and maybe even more great Whiskey drinks. The Manhattan (Bourbon), Rusty Nail (Scotch), Old Fashioned (Bourbon) and of course the Whisky Sour are some popular ones.
After repeatedly testing Mountain Dew with Whiskey (for science), I’ve concluded it’s very similar to a Whiskey Sour. Although, I suggest impregnating it with extra lime for a little more punch.
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Sources: wikipedia (Mountain Dew, Whiskey Sour, Carbonated Drinks)
Entry filed under: Demystified, Food and Drink, You're Doing It Wrong. Tags: moonshine, mountain dew, whiskey, Whisky.
Broken Secrets 
1.
christy | August 18, 2013 at 2:04 am
WOW!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING….VERY INTERESTING!!!!
2.
Jeremy | August 22, 2013 at 9:29 am
So, theres actually a drink called a vuvuzela (yes after those loud noisemakers).
Mix cold Mt Dew (preferably from a glass bottle and made with real sugar) in about a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio with nearly frozen Lime SoCo. It’ll be really smooth and you’ll barely notice it until it very suddenly hits you.
3.
Billly | October 19, 2013 at 1:26 pm
Manhattan’s are traditionally made with rye, not bourbon. Nothing wrong with a bourbon manhattan but a purist will take issue.
4. Race To Death With Racing Fuel | Prescription For Murder | February 3, 2016 at 4:04 am
[…] recently about two teenagers who died when they decided that drinking a mixture of racing fuel and Mountain Dew was a great way to get high. The notion that all racing fuels contained only pure ethanol was a […]
5.
Quentin R. | November 8, 2016 at 7:55 pm
Great article, Mountain Dew has a new flavour just for whisky called Mountain Shine… not sure if we have it here in Canada but it’s new in the U.S.
6.
Quentin R. | November 8, 2016 at 7:58 pm
Sorry it’s called DEWSHINE not mountain shine.
7.
SomeWhiskyConsumer | April 26, 2020 at 8:22 am
This is nice :D I used Woodford reserve whisky 7.3 years old, mountain dew from a glass bottle (better than canned or plastic trust me) and about 3 or 4 lemon juice drops, if you like whisky than I definitely recommend it ;)
8.
Samuel | December 16, 2021 at 2:22 pm
This name was stolen from moonshiners. Mountain Dew was another common name for Corn Squeezin’, White Lightin’ aka Moonshine