[darkangel82]

I haven’t had soda for a week and haven’t had Mt. Dew since last year. Dentist says not to drink so much of that stuff, so I’ll take your word for it.

[HotHunt]

I can't help you explain your problem with the taste of the Mountain Dew. I don't drink the stuff anymore because of a bad experience with it over a dozen years ago.

Playing my regular Friday golf game with my high school buddies on a very hot summer afternoon, there was no drink cart or water fountains to hydrate with on the desert course we were playing.

After the round, I bought two big bottles of Mountain Dew at a convenience store to drink on the drive home. I consumed both of them because I was thirsty as all get out. Within an hour of returning home, I felt light-headed and had a tingling sensation all over my body. I couldn't figure out what it was and enlisted my wife to help. She was a nurse practitioner.

My heart was racing at about 140 beats a minute when my normal resting pulse was 70. She took me to the ER and I had an EKG. I was in full-blown Atrial Fibrillation.

They cardio-converted me (the classic paddles to jolt your heart back into normal sinus rhythm). It worked for a short while but I flipped back into it again.

I was given Warfarin to thin my blood to avoid clotting. In the history and physical interview, I told the doc about drinking the Mountain Dew. She said it has a very high caffeine content and probably sent my heart into overdrive.

I have been cardio-converted over a dozen times over the years trying to get rid of the rapid and irregular heartbeat, including what they call an ablation technique and a maze procedure during my open heart surgery a few years ago. Nothing has ever worked to correct the problem permanently and I still take Warfarin daily to keep a clot from forming in my atrial chamber and causing a risk for stroke.

All of this because I downed those two Mountain Dews year before. I haven't touched it or other sodas since. Bad stuff.

[smokingfrog]

It tastes ok to me.

[TennesseeGirl]

To address your actual question, yes, it can taste different. I've wondered about that myself. The ones my husband buys locally (E TN) taste totally different than the ones sold in western NC. I've been told that the formula isn't what varies, it's the source of the ingredients from region to region. Aside, from the HFCS v. sugar (or the aspartame) issues, the taste does change. Ever notice how a product tastes one way locally, but differently when you travel to a different part of the country? I won't jump on the "shame wagon". I'm sick to death of rank strangers tutoring me on why a substance is bad for me. Good grief, I can read the scientific papers as well as anyone. Do people REALLY think someone will change their behavior by being "shamed" & lectured by every Tom, Dick, & Harry? (I drink a 12 oz soda once or twice a week.) I guess this is where my Libertarian side kicks in. Well meaning food nazis (the left-leaning nannies or the the right-leaning nannies), get on my nerves.

To sum it up, yes, sodas & mass produced food items CAN taste different from time to time, season to season, or region to region.

[Trillian]

Either you got a bad batch or they changed it. You can always contact them with the lot number and ask them about it.
I do a lot of product testing. You would be surprised how often some companies change the formulas of their food and drink products.

[cyclotic]

It’s cause you’re drinking diet Mountain Dew. Go back to the real stuff.

Canada used to sell caffeine free diet mountain dew. What’s the point?

With regular Dew, there’s a significant taste difference between cans, plastic bottles and fountain. The old glass bottles were even more different. Sweeter and a bit flatter. My preference is fountain, then cans.