• FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 hours ago

    Pepsi 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.”

  • halcyoncmdr@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    62
    ·
    8 hours ago

    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.

    • gastroglizzy@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      5 hours ago

      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

      • derfunkatron@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 hour ago

        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.”

    • Krelis_@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 hours ago

      It was originally a term for Poitín back in 1600s – 1700s Ireland when the British outlawed private distilleries. There’s a song about it written in 1882. From there it probably got picked up as a term for moonshine

  • 666dollarfootlong@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 hours ago

    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

  • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    8 hours ago

    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

  • TabbsTheBat (they/them)@pawb.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    8 hours ago

    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

    • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      7 hours ago

      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.”

      • TabbsTheBat (they/them)@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        7 hours ago

        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

        • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          5 hours ago

          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).

          • TabbsTheBat (they/them)@pawb.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            5 hours ago

            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

    • Carnelian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Never tried the European one but the one here tastes like a manufacturing precursor to battery acid

      • aldhissla@piefed.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        57 minutes ago

        As a fellow enjoyer of battery acid manufacturing precursors, I agree, it’s one of the tastier ones.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 hours ago

    Mountain Dew tastes way too much like the liquid from a pickle jar. Like it’s not enjoyable for me at all