this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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The name is a reference to bootlegging alcohol. And their original packaging literally had a dude with a moonshine jug on it, same with the modern Throwback label.
It's original slogan was It tickles yer innards.
"It'll tickle your innards!"
Most 1920s sex offender threat ever 😬😄
Kinda, sorta. "Mountain dew" is a euphemism for moonshine in the southern US.
The definition of "bootlegging" varies by who you ask. Some say it's any kind of unregulated activity related to alcohol, which can include brewing; some insist it only refers to the smuggling or transport of the finished product.
So, depending on which definition of "bootlegging" you subscribe to, it may refer to that. But "mountain dew" means "moonshine" because most people who make it live in the Appalachian mountains
The definition of bootlegging is so broad that I think you can even legally be charged with bootlegging if you source your alcohol products for sale from anywhere other than a distributor, e.g. buying in bulk from Costco or a discount liquor place to stock the bar.
In general, I think it typically means illegal transport and sale, since not too many people have historically trusted moonshiners or developed a taste for moonshine. There was that weird moment in the mid-2010s where reality TV caused a huge interest in moonshine, but that was just distillers realizing that they could capitalize on a trend by making unaged 80-proof corn liquor, throwing some cinnamon sticks and apple slices in a Mason jar, and calling it “moonshine.”
The barefoot hillbillie with a beard and a jug was a standard trope in cartoons.
Bugs Bunny ran into them all the time.
https://youtu.be/vtkflEaeGjo
It was originally made as a mixer for whiskey!
https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-mountain-dew
Also, I believe it was originally marketed as a mixer
Yup!
https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-mountain-dew
It was originally a term for Poitín back in 1600s – 1700s Ireland when the British outlawed private distilleries. There's a song about it written in 1882. From there it probably got picked up as a term for moonshine