Coffee, a staple of the morning. Most of us need that caffeine jolt to get the day going. Mountain Dew is officially getting into the morning drink business with Mountain Dew Kick Start. But, does it provide the same jolt as a cup of Joe? Mountain Dew was first invented in 1940 with a reformulated version hitting stores in 1958. Brand and production rights were taken over by PepsiCo starting in 1964. The citrus-lime drink is known for its distinct flavor, high sugar and high caffeine content. PepsiCo has been experimenting for years with new flavors and variations to the extremely popular Mountain Dew brand. After adding several fan favorite flavors, they’ve decided to give coffee a run for the money and compete in the morning beverage business. Mountain Dew Kick Start is more than just a standard energy drink. Available in two flavors orange and fruit punch, the drink is half Dew – half juice. (Ok, it’s 5% juice, but you get the idea.) Seeing it recently introduced to stores, and being a big Mountain Dew fan, myself, I had to give this a try. Full disclosure: I’ve never really been a coffee drinker. Only recently, now that we have a flashy Keurig coffee maker at work, do I occasionally have a cup. Before that, I would maybe have two cups in an entire year. A bottle of Mountain Dew is always my choice. I’m not ashamed to take one into a 9am business meeting. Reading about this new product got me excited, finally a perfect solution! Seeing the ads when it was released, I’ve been looking for this in stores for quite a while. Finally, I spotted a sign on the door at my local 7-Eleven, they were advertising ‘Buy two, get one free.”  What a deal! I went for...

It’s Memorial Day weekend and not only does this mark the unofficial start of summer, it also marks my third SEASON PREMIERE! This blogumn officially kicks off my third year on F & N. Since we’re 93 blogumns in (plus 5 filling in for Ryan Dixon’s Fierce Anticipation), it’s time to update some of the great things we’ve talked about over the past two years. MOUNTAIN DEWMOCRACY May 7, 2010 [FIERCE ANTICIPATION: THE JERSEY JOE EDITION III] In my third blogumn filling in for Ryan, PepsiCo, the bottlers of Mountain Dew released three test flavors for the summer of 2010, allowing fans to vote on which they liked best to join the line permanently. They had tried this experiment in 2008 and it was a huge success. Mountain Dew White Out was the winner and went on sale on October 4th and is still on sale now.  For a brief time, Wal-Mart Supercenters also sold 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew: Typhoon, one of the losing flavors.  In addition Mountain Dew: Game Fuel Cherry Citrus and Mountain Dew: Game Fuel Tropical were also on sale last summer to tie into the video game release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  They were discontinued in December. PepsiCo has hinted that it has no plans to test more flavors, but a few new releases have gone on sale.  Mountain Dew Xtreme (grape flavored) in available in Saudi Arabia and Mountain Dew Grape is currently on sale in Japan. For summer 2012, a new flavor will appear in stores: Mountain Dew: Dark Berry as a promotion for the movie The Dark Night Rises.  It will have a mixed berry flavor and the cans will change color when chilled.  It goes on sale June 18th. THE SMURFS MOVIE May...

Doritos tortilla chips – From Super Bowl to sleepovers, these snacks go everywhere and are eaten up by the millions. Now, the ultimate party treat just got better. Taco Bell introduces their newest creation – the Doritos Locos Tacos! Taco Bell’s newest menu item is an upgrade of their standard and supreme tacos, by replacing the classic taco shell with one made out of Doritos!  The experiment underwent testing at several restaurants last year, and now these taco upgrades are flying out the door! Taco Bell actually started off life as a hot dog stand, opened in San Bernardino, California by Glen Bell in 1946.  He would sell the original stand and open another focusing on tacos under the name Taco-Tia.  He would then gain a partner and start to sell franchises, including the first to a LA cop and the company grew rapidly. In 1978, PepsiCo would purchase it all. Taco Bell serves a line of fast food tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, novelty tacos, smoothies, and Mexican deserts.  The restaurant chain has grown significantly over the past few decades, including opening stores from Europe to Asia and on select military bases.  A number of Taco Bell Express locations are open in airports and colleges offering a scaled down menu. Some Taco Bell’s overseas and in Canada also serve French fries.  The fries are offered in two flavors, Fiesta Fries (served with nacho toppings) and plain.  Some locations also offer chili cheese and seasoned fries as well. The chain once had a popular Chihuahua mascot advertising patrons to “run for the border.”  Other past popular campaigns include “drop the chalupa,” “Think outside the bun,” and a Facebook promotion to gain enough signatures to get the federal government to produce more $2 bills to go along with...