Mountain Dew is the fourth most popular soda on the market.

It’s often marketed to a younger crowd as an extreme alternative to other drinks.

But what is the history behind this iconic soda brand?

Mountain Dew was originally a nickname for moonshine

In the late 1930’a two brothers, Barney and Ally Harman moved to rural Tennessee.

They were both heavy whisky drinkers and were disappointed to discover their favorite mixer-a soda called Natural Set Up- wasn’t available near them.

So the brothers decided to make their own whiskey mixer. They named it Mountain Dew as a tribute to their moonshine making roots.

They even first marketed it as zero proof Hillbilly moonshine.

But the original Mountain Dew wasn’t anything like what we know today. It was clear, much like Sprite.

The brothers eventually sold the drink to the Tip corporation which added lemonade to the original formula.

In 1964 PepsiCo purchased Mountain Dew from Tip.

In the 70’s it would become what it is today. Pepsi added orange flavoring and lime green food coloring and ditched the moonshine country advertising.

Mountain Dew was officially born.