DEW Labs

A few weeks ago, I got an invitation from DEW Labs to join their community, “a private DEW community of the biggest DEW fans, innovators and co-collaborators who will shape the future of Mountain Dew.”  All right.  Sure.  So I signed up and kind of forgot about it.  Until Tuesday morning when there was a FedEx package on my doorstep.

“Whatever could this be?  I didn’t order anything.  And if I did I certainly wouldn’t have chosen FedEx delivery.”  So I opened it.  Inside were three cans mysteriously labeled #231, #493, and #509 and a letter from DEW Labs explaining their mission.  As it turns out, when I signed in to DEW Labs, they already named each flavor and voted on the color but I still played along.

#509-  The first thing that popped into my mind was Hawaiian punch, but a little fruitier.  Perhaps Fruit Stripe gum?  The color was pink bubblegum.  I liked this one a lot.  It reminded me of an old fruit punch soda my mom used to buy.

#231- This one tasted like a mixture of Sierra Mist and Green River.  Or just a really salty Sierra Mist.  I didn’t like it.  We have a ton of lime based soft drinks on the market and this was definitely not in the top 10.

#493- The first thing I thought of was lemonade, but not as sweet.  It had a nice citrus flavor, kind of like Squirt.  To me this was the fruitiest tasting of the three and didn’t really have that Mountain Dew kick to it.

Out of the three flavors, I found #509 the most refreshing and unique.  #231 fell into the same category as Livewire where it’s just a pale imitation of other products in the market.  I’m not really sure if I enjoyed #493 or not.  It didn’t make much of an impression.  If all three of these do make it to supermarket shelves, I’d be willing to try all three again, but I still think I’d go with #509.  Thank you Mountain Dew for giving me my first taste testing experience!

Below are the official flavor descriptors as voted by DEW Labs’ members and the winning colors as voted by on Facebook:

#231 – Lime Blasted DEW (Deep Green)
#493 – Smooth Citrus DEW (White flash)
#509 – Punch of Tropical DEW (Red Cloud)

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