Mountain Dew

The rights to this formula were obtained by the Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia. William H. "Bill" Jones of the Tip Corporation further refined the formula, launching that version of Mountain Dew in 1961. In August 1964, the Mountain Dew brand and production rights were acquired from Tip by the Pepsi-Cola company, and the distribution expanded across the United States and Canada.

Between the 1940s and 1980s there was only one variety of Mountain Dew, which was citrus-flavored and caffeinated in most markets. Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988, followed by Mountain Dew Red, which was introduced and discontinued in 1988. In 2001, a cherry-flavored variant called Code Red debuted. This product line extension trend has continued to this day, with expansion into specialty, limited time production, region-specific, and retailer-specific (Taco Bell, 7-Eleven, Bojangles, and KFC) variants of Mountain Dew.

Production was extended to the United Kingdom in 1996, but was phased out in 1998. A similarly named but different-tasting product, with a recipe more similar to the original American product[7] has been sold in the U.K. under the name "Mountain Dew Energy" since 2010 and in Ireland since the spring of 2011. The product was renamed in 2014 to simply 'Mountain Dew'.[citation needed] As of 2017, Mountain Dew represented a 6.6% share of the carbonated soft drinks market in the U.S. Its competition includes The Coca-Cola Company's Mello Yello and Surge, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group's Sun Drop; Mountain Dew accounted for 80% of citrus soft drinks sold within the U.S. in 2010.

Tennessee bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman developed Mountain Dew as a mixer in the 1940s. Soft drinks were sold regionally in the 1930s, and the Hartmans had difficulty in Knoxville obtaining their preferred soda to mix with liquor, preferably whiskey, so the two developed their own. Originally a 19th-century slang term for whiskey, especially Highland Scotch whiskey, the Mountain Dew name was trademarked for the soft drink in 1948.

Charles Gordon, who had partnered with William Swartz to bottle and promote Dr. Enuf, was introduced to Mountain Dew when he met the Hartman brothers on a train and they offered him a sample. Gordon and the Hartman brothers subsequently made a deal to bottle Mountain Dew by the Tri-Cities Beverage Corporation in Johnson City, Tennessee.

The Hartman brothers also asked Coca-Cola for input on their soda. The Coca-Cola Company refused their offer.

The Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia bought the rights to Mountain Dew, revising the flavor and launching it in 1961. In 1964, Pepsico purchased the Tip Corporation and thus acquired the rights to Mountain Dew. In 1999, the Virginia legislature recognized Bill Jones and the Town of Marion for their role in the history of Mountain Dew.