Mountain Dew Revolution

On my last visit to the grocery store, I discovered that Mountain Dew has released three new flavors: Revolution, Voltage, and Supernova. Apparently, ordinary Dew, Code Red, LiveWire, Baja Blast, Game Fuel, and whichever other flavors I've forgotten just aren't enough.

Well, they got me hook, line, and sinker. Sucker that I am for new flavors of anything, I bought one bottle of each. I'll review them separately, because I can't drink that much Dew at once. Back in college, yeah, I would wash down my footlong jalapeno sandwich with six cans of Mountain Dew, but these days, I can't eat or drink like that.

I'll start with Revolution. It's a dusky blue in color, like a favorite pair of worn-out jeans. The label describes the flavor thusly: "Infused with wild berry fruit flavor and ginseng." What doesn't have ginseng these days? It's so everywhere.

As I open the bottle, the smell very much reminds me of the blue Gatorade Frost. In fact, if I close my eyes, I imagine a bottle of Gatorade in front of me. Possibly the color of Revolution contributes to this illusion, although it's not exactly the same shade of blue. (The Gatorade Frost being a bright electric blue, while Revolution is darker, like the pale leading edge of twilight.)

Now to taste it . . .

I was afraid it would taste just like Gatorade Frost, but I am pleased to report that it does not. It has a sort of generic berry flavor, not identifiably blue-, black-, or raspberry, but perhaps some mix of all three. I think I taste blueberry, but that could well be a mind trick as my brain links together the beverage's blue color and the "wild berry fruit flavor" description. What fruit? I would guess some sort of citrus, as that is the Dew hallmark. I do feel a citrus zing on my tongue, but I can't pin down lemon or lime as a recognizable flavor.

No, wait. There it is, in the aftertaste. It reminds me of a Japanese Ramune soda. You know the ones with the marble in the bottle? If you're not familiar with them, the marble is stuck tight just under the lip of the bottle, and you have to push it down to open the soda. No matter how careful you are, pop always sprays everywhere, which is why I usually open my Ramune in the parking lot of the Japanese grocery store, before I get in my car. My nickname for Ramune is "Explodapop."

Anyway, the original Ramune has a lemon-lime flavor. Not like real lemon and lime, but like those little lemon-sour pellet candies that come in the packages with the cool Bandai toys. And that same fakey lemon-lime flavor is the last taste to linger on my tongue after a sip of Revolution. It really isn't the standard Dew citrus flavor at all, and the similarity to the Japanese candy makes me feel disappointed that my bottle of Revolution didn't come with a Godzilla finger puppet or some miniature plastic sushi. At the very least, there ought to be a marble in the bottle. I suppose I could put a marble in the bottle, but it wouldn't be the same.

That said, I like Mountain Dew Revolution. I still like Code Red better, but Revolution isn't bad at all. It's certainly a step above LiveWire or Game Fuel. At least I know that if I have an urge for "Romulan Ale" (for which any clear blue drink will suffice), I now have an alternative that's better tasting than Gatorade Frost or that vile Goody Cream Soda.