"Mountain Dew" was originally Southern and/or Scots/Irish slang for moonshine (i.e., homemade whiskey). Using it as the name for the soda was originally suggested by Carl E. Retzke at an Owens-Illinois Inc. meeting in Toledo, Ohio, and was first trademarked by Ally and Barney Hartman in the 1940s.

Was Mountain Dew made as a mixer for moonshine?

Mountain Dew was originally developed as a mixer for whiskey

Long before it became a soda, the term "mountain dew" was a nickname for moonshine. In the 1930s or '40s (sources vary on the year), brothers Barney and Ally Hartman created a mixer to make whiskey taste better.

What alcohol is Mountain Dew made from?

Mountain Dew Was Made For Whiskey

However, the inventors of Mountain Dew actually intended it to be an alcoholic mixer that could be paired with a variety of different spirits. In the 1930's, Tennessee bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman were frustrated by how difficult it was to obtain sodas that mixed well with whiskey.