Real Sugar (also known as Throwback from 2009 until 2020) was a Mountain Dew variant, that as the name applies, was made with "real" sugar, similar to most soft drinks in the 1980s before soda companies switched to high-fructose corn syrup.
Description
Real Sugar was a Citrus-flavored soda based on the Original flavor, although it had a much sweeter taste due to not using high-fructose corn syrup.
Like the original Mountain Dew, the soda was yellow-green in color and came packed in green-tinted various sizes of bottles.
History
2009 Original Limited-Time store release
Mountain Dew Throwback was first released alongside Pepsi Throwback from April to June 2009. Its ingredients and flavor were based on the original citrus flavor Mountain Dew had when it was an independent brand, and it used packaging and logos reminiscent of the 1969–1996 era of Mountain Dew packaging.
Because sales were impressive, both Throwback drinks saw a return in December 2009 and lasted through February 2010. Based on consumer feedback, the ingredients and flavor were adjusted to be more like the orange-citrus flavor of Pepsi-era Mountain Dew. For this release, Throwback began using the 1950's era logo and Mountain Dew's original "hillbilly" theme. It would continue to use this formula for all subsequent releases, and the packaging would remain largely unchanged until the 2020 rebrand.
2010 - 2020 store release
Throwback saw another 5-week run beginning in July 2010, followed by the announcement in October that it would stay on shelves as long as sales were good. Finally, in December 2010, Throwback returned to shelves again, with the words "Limited Time Only" removed from the packaging.
In late 2013, Pepsi released a glass bottle edition of Mountain Dew Throwback sold by itself and in a pack of four. This version did not use the Throwback name and (like its 2009 and 2020 releases) used the 1969-1996 logo. Like the 2020 release, it has the words "made With REAL SUGAR" on the glass bottle.
2020 rebrand
In November 2019, the Throwback design was rebranded/replaced with a more modernized design. In addition to using a new name called "Real Sugar," the new design also returned to using Mountain Dew's 1969–1996 era logo which had previously been used for its initial 2009 release. It was re-released in certain areas in February 2020 before spreading to other areas throughout the remainder of that year, and remained on shelves until late 2023 when it was nationally discontinued.
Trivia
- Beginning in July of 2011, the "Mountain Dew Throwback Shack" website was launched, allowing fans to enter daily for prizes. These prizes included a Mountain Dew Arcade machine and even a "secret stash" of Revolution.