Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Limeade

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: I'm a big fan of limeades which generally have a tasty combination of tart and sweet flavor, and the Mountain Dew pseudo-healthy Kickstart Limeade flavor is a pretty good version of limeade. Though it isn't the best I have had, it has a good lime flavor and just enough of the tart, dry flavor that a limeade should have. When put over ice, the lime flavor intensifies slightly, muting the tartness into the background. As I noted with the other Kickstart flavors, this soda is pretty clearly not intended to be used as the base for an ice cream float, but as with all of the other flavors, I tried it anyway. Of all the Kickstart flavors, this one worked the best with ice cream because the inherent tartness of the limeade provided a nice counterpoint to the sweet smoothness of the vanilla ice cream.

But all of this is more or less beside the point, which is to deliver large amounts of caffeine in a moderately tasty form while cloaking this fact by highlighting the small amount of juice and electrolytes that the drink contains.

Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: Of all the pretend healthy caffeine delivery devices known as Kickstart, I think that orange citrus is my favorite. This is something of a surprise to me because while I am generally okay with orange flavored sodas, I am generally not as enthusiastic about them as I am about other fruit flavored sodas. Perhaps the trace amounts of concentrated orange juice in the Kickstart enhances the flavor just enough to put it over the edge. With ice, the orange flavor almost disappears and the only thing left is the citric acid taste. Once again, although the soda was clearly not intended for use in an ice cream float, I added some vanilla ice cream to it anyway. It works reasonably well as an ice cream float, but the unusual way that Kickstart is sweetened seems to produce a soda that is a little thin for this purpose.

Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Black Cherry

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: I love cherry flavored sodas, although to be honest, there doesn't seem to me to be much different in flavor between "cherry" and "black cherry" flavor. In the case of Kickstart Black Cherry, the cherry flavor is adequate but unspectacular, with the typical sweet and slightly tart flavor common to cherry flavored drinks. Of all four of the current Kickstart flavors, this is actually my least favorite, which was something of a surprise to me, as when I first saw them on the shelf, I assumed that the Black Cherry would be the best of the bunch. On the other hand, when served over ice, the soda's flavor becomes more strongly "cherry", but the flavor of artificial sweetener becomes more prominent as well. Despite the fact that using this soda in an ice cream float is something that was clearly not anticipated when it was made, I tried it anyway, for science. It serves adequately in an ice cream float, although the flavor of the soda is a bit thin for this purpose.

As a soda, Kickstart Black Cherry is okay, but not fantastic. However, it is loaded with caffeine, has considerably fewer calories per ounce than normal sodas, and its label touts that it has 5% juice. This means that it is an excellent stimulant delivery device for people who want to pretend that they are being healthy.

Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Fruit Punch

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: Mountain Dew Kickstart is a drink designed to let people pretend that they are being healthier while still getting a full dose of caffeine. To a certain extent, the drink is healthier than regular Mountain Dew - it has fewer calories per ounce, and contains a smidgen of fruit juice in its mixture, but really, it is a delivery device for concentrated amounts of caffeine. The fruit punch flavor is exactly what one would think it should be, basically delivering a flavor similar for fruit punch flavored Kool-Aid with the addition of carbonation. Ice doesn't appreciably change the flavor of the Kickstart, likely because the flavor was pretty innocuous to begin with. Although making an ice cream float was clearly not the intended purpose of this drink, I did it anyway, and it worked out reasonably well. The flavor of the Kickstart seems to gain by mixture with the vanilla of the ice cream, probably as a result of the resulting slight thickening of the soda. I'm not sure I would recommend using Kickstart as a first choice for making an ice cream soda, but it does the job adequately.