By Nelson Schneider - 10/19/14 at 01:27 PM CT
It has been quite some time since I last had some Mountain Dew Game Fuel on hand way back in 2011. I’ve been well-stocked in Mello Yello and Sun Drop for so long that I haven’t really paid much attention to new Game Fuel releases. And since Game Fuel seems inextricably tied to releases of games I don’t even give half a fig about, I don’t even notice advertisements to let me know the stuff is around again.
Fortunately, I happened to notice a big Game Fuel endcap at my local Russ’ IGA while perusing the extra-buttery popcorn isle. Once again, Game Fuel is tied to the release of a new ‘Call of Duty’ game (I don’t even know – or care – which one… okay, the Game Fuel boxes say ‘Advanced Warfare’ for what it’s worth) and comes in two flavors. Cherry-citrus is back with a vengeance, but the companion flavor is something new and extremely Yellow… like so Yellow it would kill the Green Lantern on contact.
The new Yellow flavor of game fuel is, surprisingly, not ‘urine,’ but ‘lemonade.’ Yes, the beverage being marketed to amped-up Douche-Bros to aid in their teabagging and quickscoping exploits online is caffeinated lemonade. But surely lemonade-flavored Mountain Dew has its own unique thing going on? Nope… this stuff tastes exactly like Country Time lemonade in a can. I can’t really stomach it straight-up, so I’ve been using it as a mix-in with gin and aromatic bitters. While this does indeed make a mighty fine cocktail, it’s a pretty sad effort overall on Pepsi’s part. Surely they could have come up with a new flavor twist on Mountain Dew rather than pouring lemonade in Mountain Dew cans and calling it a new flavor!
Nothing is particularly impressive about this round of Game Fuel, outside of the fact that cherry-citrus is back for a limited time. Even the packaging is drab and uninspired. At least previous versions of Game Fuel put different art on the two flavors’ boxes. This year’s cherry-citrus and lemonade both feature the same dirty, bald marine on the box, with color being the sole difference.
Update:
I finally got around to cracking open my case of cherry citrus game fuel... and something has definitely gone wrong at Pepsi's bottling facility. This year's cherry citrus tastes nothing like previous rounds of cherry citrus Mountain Dew, but instead like "cherry" cough syrup (which never actually tastes like cherries).
Both of the current Game Fuel flavors are quite unpalatable by themselves... but I discovered that mixing the two together results in a flavor that actually aligns more with the original cherry citrus. Still, having to mix two cans of soda together or pour in booze is an unnecessary hassle. Game Fuel used to be amazing, but not anymore.
