A few years ago Pepsi dived head first into the energy drink market with Mountain Dew Amp, a citrus based beverage that tasted not unlike its big papa. As far as energy drinks go, Mountain Dew Amp was at the top of my list. This was not due to the fact that it injected me with a burst of hyperactive vigor, understand, but rather because of its taste. The sad truth is that I have yet to come across an energy drink that gives me even a slight rush of energy. For whatever physiological reason, I am immune to all of them.
Not long after Mountain Dew Amp’s slim little green can hit store shelves, the folks at Pepsi delivered a competitor to its own product. Mountain Dew MDX was also an energy enhancing beverage. MDX has a saltier flavor than Amp, tasting less like original Mountain Dew. I actually preferred the taste of MDX to Amp, though it failed to do the trick in terms of giving me a boost of vitality. In the meantime, my carbonated beverage of choice remained Mountain Dew Code Red. In the past year or two, the two liter bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red has disappeared completely off store shelves in my hometown. I understand this isn’t a nationwide occurrence, but it is a definite fact that you cannot find two liter bottles of Mountain Dew Code Red in Pensacola; at least not at Walmart, Albertsons, Food Word or Winn Dixie. So imagine my surprise to find a new cherry version of Amp the other day. And so finally we get to my review of Mountain Dew Intense Cherry Amp Overdrive in a Tall Boy can. You knew I’d get there eventually, right?
In the first place, it doesn’t taste terribly different from original Amp. There is a cherry flavor to it, but let’s call it a cherry burst. It is not the substantial step forward that Code Red is to original Mountain Dew. The cherry taste is there, but in a taste test it’s likely some people would have to take another sip to differential Cherry Amp from regular Amp. Nonethless, any kind of cherry in a drink is better than nothing so I would give Cherry Amp an extra star over regular Amp. Just don’t go expecting the intensely different flavor that you got that first time you tried a Code Red. It’s not there.
As to whether it will win the hearts and minds of energy drink lovers…well, I’m probably not the right guy to answer that question. As I said, I don’t know whether it is because I have consume so much caffeine on a regular basis or whether the whole energy drink concept is just a huge scam, but I have yet to genuinely get a bona fide lightning bolt of vigor as a result of any of them. And Mountain Dew Intense Cheery Amp Overdrive in a Tall Boy can is no different. The final verdict: Drink for the taste, not for the boost.
