Sweet Lightning is a Franchise Exclusive Mountain Dew flavor available since April 2019 only at KFC restaurants.
Description[]
Sweet Lightning is a Southern-inspired Sweet Peach & Smooth Honey flavor of Mountain Dew, and is yellow-orange in color.
Sweet Lightning's formulation and flavor concept is similar to Taco Bell's exclusive flavor, Baja Blast. Both flavor formulations are designed to taste best for their restaurant food. The difference is that Baja Blast is for Mexican-inspired food, while Sweet Lightning is for Southern-inspired food.
Tagline[]
Its tagline is "DEW Charged with Natural & Artificial Sweet Peach & Smooth Honey."
Half-diet formulation[]
- Main article: Flavor 514C
Similar to other flavors like Berry Monsoon and the 2017 version of DEW-S-A, the fountain version of Sweet Lightning uses a "half-diet" formula, containing the artificial sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame potassium for a reduced calorie amount, in addition to high fructose corn syrup, while the Freeze uses a Full-Sugar version.
History[]
On March 4th, 2019, PepsiCo filed[1] a trademark name for Sweet Lightning titled "MTN DEW SWEET LIGHTNING."
A few weeks after the trademark, a user on the r/MountainDew Reddit stated[2] that they had a friend who works at KFC. The worker said, "Sweet Lightning was coming." At the time, neither the worker nor the Reddit user revealed the flavor profile or the design.
Sweet Lightning was officially released in KFC restaurants in April 2019[3] in soda fountains. It was revealed to be a "Sweet Peach & Smooth Honey" flavor with an orange look.
On June 11th, 2019[4], KFC announced in a press release that it and PepsiCo released a new fountain flavor in April 2019, available exclusively at all KFC locations nationwide starting July 1st, 2019. The press release discussed that this is designed to taste best with their food (in this case, chicken), and described it as a perfect pairing.
Sweet Lightning is available throughout in all KFC locations. Since then, it has remained a permanent flavor and later received a redesign in 2025.
Limited-Time retail releases[]
2022 Canceled Double Drop Summer release[]
On November 18th, 2021[5], a PepsiCo employee commented that there are plans for a limited time Summer release of Baja Blast alongside Sweet Lightning in 2022 and also stated that Sweet Lightning would only be released in 20-ounce bottles, which was unconfirmed at that time[6].
On February 9th, 2022, in a r/MountainDew Reddit post[7], a deleted user posted an photograph of a PepsiCo 2022 release schedule from October 2021, showing multiple seasonal releases of PepsiCo and PepsiCo-affiliated products. At the bottom of the picture was a promotion named "Double Drop Summer," relating to Baja Blast and Sweet Lightning with their Zero Sugar variants planned to release in the Summer of 2022. However, it was presumably canceled to make room for The Lost Treasures of Baja Island promotion.
In February 2023, a concept image was discovered, depicting a store display of Baja Blast and Sweet Lightning with their Zero Sugar counterparts, proving that there were some actual plans for the scrapped "Double Drop Summer" promotion.
Freeze release[]
(2024) Select Kentucky locations[]
On April 1st, 2024[8], Team Supernova[9] announced that KFC would be testing frozen drinks, including a Sweet Lightning freeze, in 75 locations in May.
On June 12th, 2024[10], it was announced that it would be testing at 22 select Lexington and Central Kentucky locations alongside chicken quesadillas[11].
Sweet Lightning Freeze's formulation utilizes a Full-Sugar[12] formation instead of the current "Half-Diet" formulation that Fountain Sweet Lightning has.
Variants[]
Sweet Lightning Zero Sugar[]
During the planning of the Double Drop Summer promotion, when the Full-Sugar variant was planning to be released, a Zero-Sugar variant of Sweet Lightning was scheduled to be released alongside it. It never came to fruition, and the Zero-Sugar variant currently remains unreleased.
Blackberry[]
On March 14th, 2024[13], Team Supernova announced that Blackberry Sweet Lightning, Blackberry Starry, and a Blackberry Sweet Tea became available at KFC for a limited time. All the featured products had a shot of blackberry flavoring. The drink menu was replaced by the Tropical Passionfruit flavoring in June 2024.
Tropical Passionfruit[]
On June 10th, 2024[14], Team Supernova announced that Tropical Passionfruit Sweet Lightning and Tropical Passionfruit Starry, alongside a Tropical Passionfruit Lemonade and Sweet Tea, became available at KFC for a limited time, replacing the Blackberry drink menu. All the featured products had a shot of tropical passionfruit flavoring. The drink menu was replaced by the Cranberry flavoring in October 2024.
Cranberry[]
On October 13th, 2024[15], Team Supernova announced that Cranberry Sweet Lightning, alongside other featured Pepsi products and KFC-exclusive drinks, became available at KFC for a limited time, replacing the Tropical Passionfruit drink menu. All the featured products had a shot of cranberry flavoring. It was eventually discontinued in February 2025, with no new flavoring replacing it since.
Peaches and Cream[]
On May 14th, 2025[16], a KFC employee on the r/MountainDew Reddit announced that in June, a "Peaches and Cream" variant of Sweet Lightning will become available. It's described as Sweet Lightning with an add-in of "sweet, vanilla crème." This follows Dirty Baja Blast and Dirty Dark Berry Bash in the pattern of restaurant exclusive flavors receiving "Dirty" variants in 2025.
On May 16th, 2025[17], two days later, a photograph of the "Peaches and Cream" variant was posted on the r/KFC Reddit before it was later deleted.
International release[]
Canada[]
On August 13th, 2021, Canadian PepsiCo filied[18] a trademark name for Sweet Lightning titled "MTN DEW SWEET LIGHTNING." It is currently unknown if Sweet Lightning would be released in Canada like Baja Blast did in 2018 in Taco Bell restaurants.
Trivia[]
- Sweet Lightning is the first exclusive beverage offered at KFC. For Franchise Exclusive flavors, this is only the second time the brand has partnered with a quick-service restaurant – the first being the hugely successful Baja Blast which debuted at KFC's sister restaurant, Taco Bell, over twenty years ago.
- This flavor was leaked months in advance on the Dew Drinker Discord.
- There are also KFC/Taco Bell combined restaurants, where both restaurants' exclusive Dew flavors, Baja Blast and Sweet Lightning, are available.
- Sweet Lightning is one of the few restaurant exclusives designed to taste best for their food. Others include Taco Bell's Baja Blast with Mexican-inspired food, Which Wich's Vibe with sandwiches, Applebee's Dark Berry Bash, Little Caesars's Mango Rush, and other exclusive flavors.
- Sweet Lightning is one of three flavors that received a creamy Dirty variant. The others were Dark Berry Bash and Baja Blast.
- Papa Johns also received a dirty variant named 'Cini Dirty Soda of the Original Mountain Dew flavor. However, it is different than the typical creamy dirty variants.
Official Restaurant Links[]
References[]
- ↑ https://uspto.report/TM/88324928
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/b2hd9y/comment/eiszsgw/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/b7s7s4/mtn_dew_sweet_lightning_sweet_peach_and_smooth
- ↑ https://global.kfc.com/press-releases/mtn-dew-introduces-sweet-lightning-available-exclusively-at-kfc-us-a-bold-new-beverage-to-pair-perfectly-with-the-colonels-11-herbs-and-spices
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/qx7vtm/flamin_hot/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/qx7vtm/comment/hl91zr6/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/soem0t/perks_of_being_friends_with_people_at_a_gas/
- ↑ https://x.com/TeamSupernovaFB/status/1774924993048019209
- ↑ https://x.com/TeamSupernovaFB
- ↑ https://www.kfc.com/newsroom/kfc-ICEE-test-market
- ↑ https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/kfc-testing-new-beverages-chicken-quesadillas
- ↑ https://www.pepsicoproductfacts.com/Home/product?formula=F0000016506&form=FRZ&size=12&PPF
- ↑ https://x.com/TeamSupernovaFB/status/1768282122039476617
- ↑ https://x.com/TeamSupernovaFB/status/1800090244504867033
- ↑ https://x.com/TeamSupernovaFB/status/1845582432445043117
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/mountaindew/comments/1kmqof2/new_sweet_lightning_variant/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/kfc/comments/1ko2i3m/new_promos_coming_in_june_new_mt_dew/
- ↑ https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cipo/trademark-search/2127185