A History Of Mountain Dew: From Hillbilly Beginnings To One Of ...

The beginnings

The exact date of the first concoction known as Mountain Dew is a little fuzzy, but historians say it debuted between 1940 and 1948, which was the year the trademark was filed with the U.S. Patent Office, according to a 2019 story in the Knoxville Sentinel by Amy McRary.

Mountain Dew exhibit 2019East Tennessee Historical Society

It was developed by Hartman Beverage Co. of Knoxville, run by brothers Barney and Ally (pronounced "Olly") Hartman. McRary writes that when their Orange Crush bottling plant in Georgia failed in 1932, the brothers moved to Knoxville to run a bottling plant for beer and Pepsi Cola.

Because soft drinks were sold mainly regionally at that time, Barney and Ally couldn't find a lemon-lime soda to sell, one that could be used as a mixer for cocktails. So they asked for the help of William "Billy" Jones with the Tip Corp. in Marion, Va., to help formulate a simple, clear mixer.

Then they "privately bottled a lemon-lime mixer they jokingly called Mountain Dew, a nickname for moonshine coined in the 19th century. They had a hillbilly label printed up, but only bottled the 7UP-style drink for their own after-hours consumption," McRary writes.

Eventually, the brothers decided to go public. They put the concoction in green bottles and began selling Mountain Dew in 1946 but it didn't sell well.

Flavor meets design

Meanwhile, the Tri-City Beverage Co. in Johnson City, Tenn., thought the hillbilly-themed promotions were a great idea, even if the contents weren't selling. In 1958, Bill Bridgeforth had taken over the business and concocted a lemonade soda called Tri-City Lemonade. According to the book "Mountain Dew: The History" by Bill's son, Dick, flavor and design finally collided in 1960 when Bill Bridgeforth began bottling his lemonade soda in Mountain Dew's green bottles. This "new" soda was a hit with consumers.

Vintage signBellczar | Wikimedia Commons

Now, let's back up a minute – or three years. In 1957, the Minges Bottling Group, a Pepsi bottler in Lumberton, N.C., had purchased the Tip Corp., including the rights to the Mountain Dew brand, according to the Minges Bottling Group website. In turn, the Minges encouraged its parent company, Pepsi, to take a chance on Mountain Dew.

The website says, " … the Minges family … through the vision of Hoyt A. Minges Sr., took a giant idea and now mega-brand Mountain Dew to the parent company of Pepsi-Cola. … After years of success the brand was bought by the Pepsi-Cola Company on September 2, 1964, and today serves at the No. 1 trademark brand for the Minges Bottling Group."

Did you get all that?

So who invented Mountain Dew? A quote by I. Hugh Slagle, the late vice president of Pepsi bottler Marion Bottling, sums up the difficulty of the question: "Is Mountain Dew the bottle or the drink inside the bottle or the spirit of the people that worked with the drink?," he asked in Dick Bridgeforth's book. In other words, it took a lot of folks in four cities to make a masterpiece.

According to a timeline on Mountain Dew Wiki, a fan site, the hillbilly theme stayed with Mountain Dew until 1973 when "Pepsi completely alters Mountain Dew's packaging, abandoning the 'hillbilly' look and changing the logo for the first time since the drink's creation to appeal to a 'younger, outdoorsy generation.'" The "Ya-hooo! It'll tickle your innards" ad campaign, developed in 1965, was dropped along with the hillbilly image. Several collectible promotional items are in the collection of the East Tennessee Historical Society, which exhibited them in 2019.

In 2011, the logo was updated to the current "Mtn Dew" styling. The company now sells dozens of flavors that change frequently and sponsors a variety of extreme sports, from BMX to NASCAR, to showcase its brand.

The 2009 Mountain Dew 250 in Talladega, Ala. (Bernard Troncale)

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