The Unusual Mountain Dew Flavor Dropping Just In Time For The Holidays

If someone from the recent past made a short time-machine journey to 2022, they might schedule a stern intervention with America's Big Snack industry. Holding a jar of spicy dill pickles in one hand and a bag of crinkle-cut potato chips in the other, this perplexed voyager would explain that just because two things can be found in the same store, doesn't mean they should merge into a Frankenstein creation. 

Without this hypothetical voice of reason to intervene, the tyranny of choice is alive and well at your average bodega. The snack aisle might run the gamut of Flamin' Hot Cheetos Mac 'N Cheese, Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie Cereal, Pillsbury's Lucky Charms Sugar Cookie Dough, and mayonnaise-flavored Cadbury Creme Eggs. If we had to come up with a collective noun for the growing roster of wild brand collaborations fostered by Twitter marketing, we'd be more inclined to call it an onslaught than a bounty. 

Over in the soft drink fridge, Mountain Dew might have some of the strangest flavors of them all. As the holiday season approaches, the brand is taking a stance on Yuletide's most contentious loaf, fruitcake. 

Whether you love it or hate it, fruitcake is a permanent fixture of the holiday dessert canon. Homemade versions might yield more forgiving reviews (we've had many positive fruitcake experiences, ourselves), but like so many controversial foodstuffs, the preservative-filled grocery store version is usually the kind that sticks with people. The Swiss Colony describes its fruitcake as a "dense amalgam of fruits, nuts, and just enough rich cake to hold them together," adding that "it's one of the few baked goods that can benefit from aging."

In keeping with these wild times we live in, fruitcake is the muse behind Mountain Dew's new Fruit Quake flavor, which has already hit the shelves ahead of Thanksgiving. The brand told Food & Wine that it's "making fruitcake cool again" with the dark-red beverage, which is sold in holiday-themed bottles and cans. Per the brand, Fruit Quake "merges the iconic citrus flavor of Mountain Dew with a blast of the fruity taste of the holidays." According to the brand's Wiki Fandom page, the limited-time soda follows in the footsteps of other Mountain Dew flavors from Christmases past, including Holiday Brew, Merry Mash-Up, Gingerbread Snap'd, and Cobra Cane.