Review: Mountain Dew Baja Blast

[Tannerman]

Over the past few weeks, it's been confirmed that a new, limited-time Mountain Dew flavor would be arriving around Halloween (Mountain Dew Pitch Black). But that's not the only Dew news that's been happening. No sir!

This week another new flavor was rolled out exclusively at Taco Bell... Mountain Dew Baja Blast. This is being promoted as "A Tropical Lime Storm". Yes, a LIME-flavored Dew. Apparently, the lime taste is supposed to complement the pseudo-Mexican flavors that you partake when dining at a Taco Bell establishment.

I made a "run for the border" to try this new beverage. It's available right out of the fountain, and Taco Bell has a lot of signage up showing the product combined with various value meals they offer. On the drive over I heard a few radio advertisements for the drink as well. If you follow the theming of their website, you can see that they are trying to associate this beverage with surfing, strong weather, and a tongue-in-cheek poke at beach films. You are greeted with the following textual buildup upon visiting:

Interestingly, the beverage is light blue-green. Not exactly the color direction I thought they would have gone. However, green was already taken with the flagship Dew, and any darker color might have been confused with the now discontinued Pepsi Blue (or 2002's limited-time 7-11 Slurpee flavor, Mountain Dew Blue Shock). It has a subtle margarita look, which is probably what they were going for in the first place.

I didn't order any food to go along with my Baja Blast; I wanted to test the beverage on its own merits. I liked Pepsi Blue a lot, however I think one of the biggest problems it had was that it didn't taste very good with any food... it was merely a stand-alone beverage. That's the basis I wanted to use to measure this new Dew.

After my first sip, my initial reaction was, "well... not what I expected." There is definitely a bitter kick to the drink, which I suppose is tied to the lime. However, this really didn't taste like lime at all.

In fact, it didn't really taste like a Dew at all. This might have been another case of Pepsi simply using the Mountain Dew brand to extend their lineup (just as Code Red and LiveWire seem to have questionable Dew associations). The beverage tasted very much like a melted Fla-Vor-Ice... you know, those frozen, fruity treats you suck out of a plastic tube wrapper.

Overall, it wasn't very good. Others may like it with their food, but by itself, it was not a winner for me. Oh well, that's part of the adventure in trying new soft drinks!

[Tannerman]

Looks like sales of this stuff is really helping Taco Bell. From Reuters:

Taco Bell enlists Pepsi to boost drink sales
Wednesday August 18, 2:47 pm ET

NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc. and fast-food company Yum Brands Inc. are looking to a new drink available only at Taco Bell to increase beverage sales.

Yum unit Taco Bell introduced last month Pepsi-made Mountain Dew Baja Blast, a lime-flavored, turquoise-colored soft drink aimed at drive-thru customers who often pass on buying a beverage with their meal.

It is the first time a soft drink has been developed specifically for sale at a fast-food chain, Taco Bell said.

Greg Creed, Taco Bell's chief marketing officer, said with drive-thru transactions making up 70 percent of the chain's sales and beverages garnering high profit margins, sales of Baja Blast could impact overall sales.

Pepsi's collaboration with Taco Bell is part of a broader effort to appeal to consumers seeking variety in beverages as the company grapples with declining sales of its flagship brand.

Pepsi declined to say how much it spent on developing Baja Blast, but Taco Bell's Creed estimated it had spent "a couple of million dollars" on development and between $4 million and $5 million on the drink's launch.