Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus

 

Product circa: 2025

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Simply put, a flavor that somehow concentrates on citrus flavors within a formula that is already based on citrus.  I get added flavors of orange, lime, and maybe even grapefruit.  But it is missing additional acid - this feels sweeter than it needs to be, and I think the product suffers for it.

Hi-C Ecto Cooler (2017)

 

Product circa: 2017 and intermittently after

Back in the day, Ecto Cooler was one of the coolest things you could have in your school lunchbox… before Capri Sun gained popularity, that is.  I gotta hand it to Coca-Cola for bringing it back for a time, and I'm glad to hear they've done it again since.  Luckily for folks my age, companies are realizing that there is a huge amount of money in fanservice to nostalgia of products like these.

This formula tastes exactly like it did in the 80s/90s, and I have no idea how they do it.  It’s an orange flavored drink unlike anything else that’s been made.  It’s not pure orange juice, it’s clearly mixed with some kind of artificial drink, but it still maintains an acidic bite that a bottled juice drink wouldn’t have.  I think I’m going to start mixing Hi-C Orange and orange juice to see if I can replicate this.

Gatorade Electric Flash

 

Product circa: 2025

With no description of what it tastes like, the internet says that Gatorade Electric Flash tastes like the orange and lemon lime flavors combined.  They are right.  And it's delicious.  That's about it.

Sprite LeBron's Mix

Product circa: summer 2015

LeBron's Mix was actually a reprise of Sprite's "6 Mix by LeBron James" which had appeared a year before.  Both had the same formula: a Sprite base with cherry and orange mixed in.  The promotion seemed to be nothing more than Coca-Cola attempting to cash in on LeBron's immense popularity from the early 2010s.  I presume that LeBron himself collaborated on how his mix would taste, but I'm not sure.

Sprite variations, which are seldom, tend to be quite good, but this one falls short.  The first half of each sip is nice, with a cherry-like Sprite vibe, but the aftertaste is like cheap orange candy.  Each swig plays with your emotions, such that it ends up being worse than the original product.

So unfortunately, the flavored Sprite exceptionalism ended in 2015.


Sprite LeBron's Mix:- Passable
Original Sprite (for comparison):- Good

Mountain Dew LiveWire

Congress is in recess, and August's dog days are upon us here in Washington.  In such oppressive humidity and heat, a refreshing beverage surely is the cure, no?

Every summer Pepsico releases Mountain Dew LiveWire.  I thought they might not do it this summer, but I was wrong.  Evidently the product is successful enough to bring back every year, and they've been doing this for 10 years now.

LiveWire is essentially an orange-flavored Mountain Dew.  Unfortunately, the company uses a heavy hand with the drink's orange flavoring, and whatever redeeming qualities that Mountain Dew boasts are barely there for LiveWire.  It's more like an orange soda with a kiss of Mountain Dew.  Every successful Dew iteration has had the Dew elevate it to something else, and this doesn't hit the mark.  It's a wonder it's been around for 10 years.  Perhaps this is a lesson on what artificial scarcity can do.


Mountain Dew LiveWire:- Good

Original Mountain Dew(for comparison):- Great