I try to crack the mystery of Mountain Dew VooDew Zero Sugar

I’d like to consider myself a Mountain Dew connoisseur. While I usually stick to Diet Dew these days, I moved into my dorm freshman year of college with four different flavors of Mountain Dew — regular, Code Red, Livewire and Pitch Black — to stock my fridge with. I eventually realized that there were better drinks I could be keeping in that fridge.

When it comes to the limited edition flavors of Mountain Dew these days, my options are more limited. Pepsi doesn’t seem to produce Zero Sugar versions of many of these variants, and when they do, the Zero Sugar option is harder to find.

While I’ve seen the 2024 edition of VooDew on shelves for a bit now, it wasn’t until this past week that I finally stumbled upon Mountain Dew VooDew Zero Sugar. This is the sixth year that we’ve gotten a mystery VooDew flavor, with previous versions offbeat flavors like candy corn or Cherry Airheads.

What do I think this year’s flavor is? And is it worth a spot in your dorm’s fridge?

Where I found it

Giant came through for me on finding the Zero Sugar version of Mountain Dew VooDew.

What I paid

I actually forgot to save my receipt, but Giant’s app tells me a 20 oz. Mountain Dew runs $2.29.

My thoughts

My first thought after opening the bottle was, woah, is this strawberry Kool-Aid? Something about the smell of this version of VooDew — a smell that instantly hits you in the face — reminded me of buying one of those vintage packets of Kool-Aid that you had to dump a ton of sugar into.

And despite being the Zero Sugar version, this year’s VooDew flavor tastes like it did have a ton of sugar dumped into it. Wow. After a few sips, I had to shake it off.

Back to the smell. This one smells like sugary strawberry just as much as it tastes like sugary strawberry.

The color of Mountain Dew Zero Sugar VooDew doesn’t give any clues when it comes to guessing the flavor. Like past years, it’s white, like a mystery Airhead.

I might be drinking this one while writing this edition of Snackology (gotta finish what I paid for), but that’s really all I can image 2024’s VooDew pairing with. I love a Diet Dew with a tuna sub and a Baja Blast with Taco Bell, but I can’t think of any food that I’d pair up with this soda.

Final verdict: BUY*

Look, I’m going to give Mountain Dew Zero Sugar VooDew a buy — but there’s an asterisk. I want to know what you think this mystery flavor is. Am I right in guessing that it’s strawberry Kool-Aid? I’ve seen some guesses online that it’s pink Starburst, but this Mountain Dew comes across as way too sugary to invoke a pink Starburst for me.