Sugar Returns to Mountain Dew this April

[Jared Rea]

Sugar Returns to Mountain Dew this April

Rejoice! The eerily official drink of the gamer nation ditches the corn syrup for the real thing.

Professional athletes have Gatorade, NASCAR drivers have Budweiser and gamers? Well, we have Mountain Dew, of course. That sweet, delicious slurm [http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=147493] of the gods, that for reasons science has yet to explain, is inexplicably loved by gamers around the world. Put a case of the green stuff anywhere near a pack of the thirsty lot and it'll be gone faster than you can say "whimmy wham wham wozzle."

Unfortunately, the two largest soda manufacturers in the US, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, stopped using real cane sugar in its drinks back in 1984 when high fructose corn syrup [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup] became a viable alternative. To it's wallets? Yes. To our palettes? One only needs to pick up a south of the border bottle of Mexican Coke, which is still made with real sugar, to realize that we got hosed.

Come this BevReview.com [http://consumerist.com/5155721/attn-hfcs-haters-get-ready-for-sugar+sweetened-pepsi-throwback] as well.

The worst thing that can happen is that this somehow makes Mountain Dew more delicious and then Pepsi takes it away, leaving gamers to roam the ends of the Earth forever, looking for one last drop of the fabled substance. If they were ever to rerelease Game Fuel [http://xbox.joystiq.com/2007/08/03/halo-3-dew-game-fuel-available-august-13th/] with real sugar, I'd be stockpiling for days.

Permalink

 

[xitel]

Oh wow, I may have to switch from drinking Coke just for this.

 

[MasterStratus]

Sounds great, I'll be looking forward to April.

 

[DaxStrife]

DAMN. Best news I've read today.
I'm something of a health nut, and probably one of the few gamers aware of the health dangers of too much HFCF in your diet. I'm still addicted to a can of soda a day (caffeine mostly, for medicinal reasons) but I try to cut the HFCF out of my diet in other ways... too bad it's in frickin' everything. Glad to see the soda companies ditching the chemical sweetener/preservative goop for real sugar... hope it turns into a permanent change.

 

[ellimist337]

Fantastic. Back in high school, we did a chem lab experiment where we calculated the amount of sugar in sodas, and I believe Mountain Dew was somewhere between 12 and 13 teaspoons per can. I look forward to bringing those days back.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

sugar left coke? up here in Canada, much like Mexico, we have no trade embargo on Cuba so among the fine humidor full of Cohibas i have, we also have real cane sugar in our Coke and Pepsi

 

[Sigenrecht]

I haven't drank an ounce of this in my life. Am I missing out?

 

[uberpoi]

Thats awesome!

I never knew they took out the sugar but that would suck.

 

[Miphon]

Ha! We Australians may not be able to legally play adult computer games but at least we have real sugar in our Coke etc. That said Mountain Dew tastes what I would expect fizzy urine to taste like.

 

[HomeAliveIn45]

I once spent two weeks in the Haitian countryside drinking little but bottled water and pure cane Coka-Colas. When we got on the plane to come back, and I asked for a coke, I almost spat it out completely. Stupid corn syrup...

 

[Skizle]

so will it cost more since its using real sugar?

 

[reaper_2k9]

Oh wow, I may have to switch from drinking Coke just for this.

Me too, soda that uses actual sugar cane tastes so much better, the nice little boost in energy is a plus too.

 

[9of9]

Heh. Haven't been able to stomach Coke since high-school. I've no idea what Mountain Dew is, but it sounds fairly ghastly.

 

[Jamash]

I live in the UK, so I didn't really appreciate how foul that 'High Fructose Corn Syrup' shit was until the other day.

I bough a can of Coca-Cola from my local chip shop, took a swig of it and spat it out, it tasted horrible (I don't drink a lot of fizzy drinks, but if I do then it's Coca-Cola, specifically because of the flavour).

Because of a Coke vs. Pepsi thread I'd read on the Escapist a couple of days earlier, I had an idea what was wrong. I looked at the ingredients on the can, lo and behold it was made with corn syrup and had been canned in Atlanta.

I got my money back from the shop with no problem at all, they tasted it and agreed it was horrible and said they won't get any more coke from that particular supplier.

I don't understand how they can legally label and sell that stuff as Coca-Cola when it tastes so radically different and horrible from the normal stuff made with sugar.

It's like making shortbread with lard instead of butter, but still selling it as 'All Butter Shortbread', it's just a blatant lie and wrong.

 

[Skizle]

I live in the UK, so I didn't really appreciate how foul that 'High Fructose Corn Syrup' shit was until the other day.

I bough a can of Coca-Cola from my local chip shop, took a swig of it and spat it out, it tasted horrible (I don't drink a lot of fizzy drinks, but if I do then it's Coca-Cola, specifically because of the flavour).

Because of a Coke vs. Pepsi thread I'd read on the Escapist a couple of days earlier, I had an idea what was wrong. I looked at the ingredients on the can, lo and behold it was made with corn syrup and had been canned in Atlanta.

I got my money back from the shop with no problem at all, they tasted it and agreed it was horrible and said they won't get any more coke from that particular supplier.

I don't understand how they can legally label and sell that stuff as Coca-Cola when it tastes so radically different and horrible from the normal stuff made with sugar.

It's like making shortbread with lard instead of butter, but still selling it as 'All Butter Shortbread', it's just a blatant lie and wrong.

when a company wants to make money they will do anything it takes to lower the quality sadly (well at least in America anyways). also supposedly high fructose corn syrup is addictive

 

[Raptoricus]

Well I'm in the UK, so we never really see Mountain Dew over here, and like Jamash said, we still get real sugar in all our pop. Still I tried some Mountain Dew once, and I did like it, wonder why they don't have it over here :/ .

 

[Death916]

I haven't drank an ounce of this in my life. Am I missing out?

yes, yes u r

 

[Jamash]

SNIP

when a company wants to make money they will do anything it takes to lower the quality sadly (well at least in America anyways). also supposedly high fructose corn syrup is addictive

Addictive? How could you drink enough of that foul stuff to become addicted (and this is coming from a smoker)?

One swig was enough for me, now I intend to always read the ingredients on Coke before putting it in my mouth.

Still I tried some Mountain Dew once, and I did like it, wonder why they don't have it over here :/ .

I think it was discontinued because of the E-numbers which gave it it's unique colour, maybe they were poisonous or made kids hyperactive or for some reason didn't meet up to British standards (maybe it was just too outlandish).

I'm guessing it went the way of the (old) blue Smartie.

 

[GRoXERs]

Ha! We Australians may not be able to legally play adult computer games but at least we have real sugar in our Coke etc. That said Mountain Dew tastes what I would expect fizzy urine to taste like.

I love that this was your first post.
On-topic:
Holy crap. This may be the best news since I found out my local convenience store sells Dublin Dr. Pepper (that's the cane sugar (no HFCS) version of Dr. Pepper to those who don't know)!