Alcoholic Mountain Dew? PepsiCo To Release 'Hard Mountain Dew' In 2022

A new alcoholic drink will be hitting the shelves in 2022. PepsiCo and Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams beer, will team up to make an alcoholic version of Mountain Dew called "Hard Mountain Dew."

Hard Mountain Dew will be marketed by Pepsi, while Boston Beer will take over the alcoholic production and development of the drink.

The beverage will hit U.S. markets in late February or early March. It will be considered a malt beverage with a 5% alcohol volume.

There are three flavors: Mountain Dew Original, Black Cherry, and Watermelon. Mountain Dew has a reputation for high sugar and high caffeine, but the new products will have zero sugar and will not be caffeinated.

Boston Beer is the producer and owner of Truly hard seltzer, which has seen a decline in sales after its product boom during the "white claw summer" of 2019. Truly was a part of the original influence of the hard seltzer and flavored alcoholic beverage trend. Though, as of recently, the brand saw its stock plunge 26% in one day, on July 23, forcing a cut in its full-year forecast.

Pepsi has hinted that it would enter the alcohol beverage trend since October, following Coca-Cola's announcement of its planned alcoholic beverage release of Topo Chico Hard Seltzers.

The plans account for some of the first-ever recent alcoholic beverage releases from the soft-drink giants. Coca-Cola has not had anything in the category in decades, while this will be one of Pepsi’s first ventures.

Pepsi also filed a new trademark application for its Rockstar brand to be made into a beer and hard seltzer in June, according to Bloomberg.

Beer brands like Bud Light, Corona, and Michelob Ultra have also recently released their own versions of alternate alcoholic beverages.