Heath先生

Now that the original Mountain Dew has been reviewed, there's a Japan-only grape spinoff that came out this summer and is now slowly fading from the market. I expect it to be impossible to find by the end of November.


This pop is OK in small bursts. Its grape flavor is surprisingly stronger than I expected it to be, especially since it's a Japanese exclusive; flavors tend to be a little more subtle here, especially in beverages, perhaps CC Lemon being the biggest exception. But it's not so much a grape fruit flavor or traditional grape soda flavor so much as it's that patented grape candy flavor -- you know, the kind you taste in almost all grape gummies, chewing gum, Warheads, or Jolly Ranchers.

That's fine, because hey, if I want a "traditional" grape soda, I already have 10 different options for that, and it'd be hard to beat Welch's at their own game. The problem I have is that it's labeled "Mountain Dew Grape," and there's not much Dew to it. If I want a pure Cherry soda, for example, I have Chery Crush or Cherikee Red (that IS spelled correctly, but if I want Cherry Mountain Dew, then I pick up a Code Red Mountain Dew. If I want an orange pop, I pick up an orange Fanta, something generic, orange Crush, or Sunkist, but if I want Orange Mountain Dew, I go for Livewire. See where this is going?

Grape Mountain Dew might have that candyish grape taste about it, but it doesn't really seem like a flavor of Mountain Dew to me. This is not to say something HAS to be Mountain Dew in order to be good -- not so at all -- the name is just a little misleading. The drink itself, overall, is enjoyable on occasions, but I often don't find myself wanting to finish the can, let alone go for multiples.

I know it's going out of production soon, so I have the instinct to stock up while I can, but every time I go to a machine I just can't bring myself to spend the money. Final verdict: this one is just OK.



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