Mountain Dew finally in Malta 

Mountain Dew, an international low-carbonated soft drink is the latest product to hit the local market. An energizing and thirst-quenching soft drink, Mountain Dew has a unique citrus taste and is available in 25cl glass bottles.

Born way back in the hills of Tennessee in the 1940s, the name Mountain Dew was first trademarked by two brothers, Barney and Ally Hartman, who ran a bottling plant in Knoxville. The Hartman's Mountain Dew, however, was a lemon-lime drink used as a mixer with whiskey.

The first Mountain Dew labels were created in 1948 featuring sketches of Willy the Hillbilly. The old red-and-white labels feature a hillbilly shooting at a revenuer fleeing an outhouse with a pig sitting in the corner. Under the Mountain Dew lettering on the bottle, there were names of individual bottlers, sellers, and towns, intended to make the product feel like the illegally made liquor cooked up in mountain stills. In fact, the name Mountain Dew is slang for "moonshine".

Pepsi-Cola acquired the franchise in 1964 and Mountain Dew became one of their major brands.

“Mountain Dew is targeted at teens and young adults who embrace excitement, adventure and outrageous fun. Its caffeine content makes it appealing to teens as an alternative to colas,” said Alison Schembri, Brand Executive for Mountain Dew in Malta. “The brand is extremely popular with teens in the United States, with websites dedicated to the brand and its memorabilia.”

“In fact, Mountain Dew is ranked 4th in the top ten soft drinks of the US according to Beverage Marketing Corporation that provides consultancy services to the beverage industry. The product is also a huge success in other European countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, and Norway,” said Ms Schembri.

Mountain Dew is produced under the authority of PepsiCo by Simonds Farsons Cisk plc.

www.mountaindew.com