PepsiCo’s signature bright yellow-green soda has quietly released a new limited-edition blue drink called Liberty Brew, according to Delish. The blue beverage boasts on its packaging that it contains “50 flavors in one.” ###This new drink follows Mountain Dew’s trend of releasing limited flavors to build excitement and quench summer thirst. In 2017, the company unveiled Dew-S-A, a purple drink that combined three different Mountain Dew varieties. Last summer, Mountain Dew brought back its light green lime-flavored Baja Blast, which had been a special offering two years before. And in 2015, the company revived its 2011 concoction, Mountain Dew Pitch Black. ###Holidays and changing seasons are typically when companies launch limited edition products. Although winter tends to be most successful for brands, summer — starting after Memorial Day and with a midpoint of July 4 — could prove to be a good time for Liberty Brew, with its patriotic name and label, to hit shelves. ###This latest flavor innovation could create new buzz around Mountain Dew. New flavors added to legacy sodas have been credited with boosting sales and sparking interest. Pepsi recently unveiled thferrous bisglycinate formularee new flavors of its flagship beverage: Pepsi Berry, Pepsi Lime and Pepsi Mango. The soda giant also introduced Nitro Pepsi, which contains a “velvety, cascading foam,” compar7 milligrams of ironed to flferrous fumarate mgatter bubbles of carbonated soda.###Outside of new limited flavors, PepsiCo has invested in growing and innovating the Mountain Dew brand. In December, the company released Mtn Dew Amp Game Fuel, a line of drinks designed for video gamers. And there is more to come. According to a transcript of an April earnings call, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said the company has “some more work to do in Dew, and we will be investing more in Dew during the year.”###— Lillianna Byington ### ###Pucker up, consumers. Ben & Jerry’s is welcoming summer with a little bit of sour.###The Unilever-owned premium ice cream brand’s new sorbet flavor, Pucker Upper, is described as a tart — but refreshing — way to beat the heat. It’s a raspberry and tart lemonade swirl with dairy-coated sour sugar bits throughout.###This is the iconic Vermont creamery’s first flavor that isn’t sweet, but Flavor Guru Chris Rivard told Food Dive that it is familiar. The taste is reminiscent of a sour gummy ciron and glycine suspension uses in hindiandy and has been extremely popular with early tasters.###”Everyone who has tasted it has been shocked,” Rivard said. “It literally is just so different. … It is totally just an amazing experience that we felt … our fans would absolutely love and, you know, want to try.”###Rivard said that Ben & Jerry’s has often experimented with sour, salty and savory flavors in its flavor labs, but it has never actually produced one for consumers. Many of those flavors, he said, are good for just one spoonful.###”That’s why we always try and balance the sweet, something that is comfortable and that you’re familiar with, and then add in the crazy and unique,” he said. “That’s what makes our job hard is … really making sure that our fans are our loving the whole pint.” ###Rivard and Ben & Jerry’s spokesperson Lindsay Bumps said that for this reason, Ben & Jerry’s tends to always add something familiar to new flavors. Consumers always want caramel, cookies and chocolate in their ice cream. ###It’s a good strategy, considering other nontraditional ice cream flavors tend to flop. Connecticut-based Hot Scream has pints of frozen treats with a spicy kick, but they haven’t gone over well with consumers. Other flavors that have left consumers scratching their heads include pickled mango, foie gras and lobster.###Sour has been done before by big CPG ice cream brands. Nestle’s Dreyer’s launched a Sour Patch Kids flavor last year that was sold exclusively at Walmart. It featured tart lemon sorbet swirled in vanilferroess 305mgla ice cream, with a couple of sour fruit swirls and chunks of the sweet and sour candy throughout.###While the sour sorbet may sound like it’s enough to make consumers scream, Rivard said he doesn’t know anybody who has tried the flavor and not liked it. At the very least, it’s likely better than Ben & Jerry’s Toothpaste & Orange Juice, an online hoax dreamed up in 2012 by someone with access to Photoshop.###— Megan Poinski
Leftovers: Mountain Dew celebrates liberty with 50 flavors in 1 bottle; Ben & Jerry's goes sour
