NRN senior food editor Bret Thorn breaks down what you should be watching in the industry this week. Connect with him on the latest marketing trends and news at [email protected] and @foodwriterdiary. RELATED: • Sonic introduces new soda line • Starbucks to debut Fizzio soda line • More food and beverage news
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If you’re in food and beverage product development and wondering how weird your creations need to be to get the attention of the coveted demographic of 18-to-34-year-old males, consider Dewitos.
The Mountain Dew beverage flavor, recently tested on college campuses, is meant to taste like Nacho Cheese Doritos.
Redditor Steve Barnes, a freshman at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, is credited as the first known person to sample the drink and report on it.
He wrote that it “actually tasted like Doritos” and “it was like a weird mix of mountain dew flavors and doritos. Like if you shoved a handful of doritos in your mouth and chugged some dew at the same time. Not that I’ve ever done that…”
“It honestly wasn’t that disgusting,” Barnes wrote, but he did not recommend the drink.
Still, Dewitos went viral.
“Eww,” declared Laura Stampler in Time, in a story titled: “Doritos-Flavored Mountain Dew is First Sign of Impending Apocalypse.”
Time was one of many media outlets to quote Mountain Dew parent company PepsiCo’s written statement about Dewitos:
“We are always testing out new flavors of Mountain Dew, and giving our fans a voice in helping decide on the next new product has always been important to us. We opened up the DEW flavor vault and gave students a chance to try this Doritos-inspired flavor as part of a small program at colleges and universities.”
Stampler noted that the experimental flavor had also been tested at Ohio University and Kansas State University.
The Huffington Post said PepsiCo had introduced Mountain Dew flavored Doritos in the past.
Still, the Atlantic asked in its headline: “Why, Why is Pepsi Testing Doritos-Flavored Mountain Dew?” Writer Svati Kirsten Narula responded: “Given the state of soda sales, you can’t blame Pepsi for trying.”
Since it seemed only to have been tested briefly on college campuses, the world at large could only wonder what the drink might taste like — or make their own versions, which Ellen DeGeneres did on her daytime television show. She mixed Mountain Dew and Doritos in a pitcher and asked a volunteer in the audience to try it.
“It’s a sweet Dorito,” guest Hillary Loretta said. DeGeneres said it smelled disgusting.
DeGeneres misquoted Redditor Barnes as saying it’s “not the weirdest thing I’ve ever drunken.” Actually, he said it was the weirdest thing he’d ever “drunken.”
Doug Speirs tried a similar experiment for The Carillon.
“Imagine washing your dog in the tub, then tossing in lemons, limes and several pounds of nacho cheese dust and you’ll know how it tasted,” he wrote.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
