mtn dew question

[madman]

lets talk about mountain dew,im living here in knoxville where the name mtn dew was created, but not the flavor that you know now, so my question is .... who produced the new flavor first, johnson city or marion va.------------ mike

 

[morbious_fod]

What exactly do you mean by produced. If you mean who produced the first Mountain Dew concentrate for use by bottlers then that would be Bill Jones, who bottled and provided the drink in concentrate form to the bottlers who were Tip Corporation franchises. If you mean the finished drink itself then that would be Tri-City Beverage, according to Dick Bridgeforth, or the Minges of North Carolina according to Wythe Hull. If Bill Bridgeforth actually helped create the drink, as Tri-City Lemonade, and it was his idea to use the flavor in Mountain Dew bottles then Johnson City would be your answer.

BTW Pepsi has went with Dick Bridgeforth's version of the story

The Mountain Dew legend is a tangled up mess of differing stories, and biased research. Unfortunately nearly everyone, if not everyone involved with the brand's creation is gone, and even they were fighting about who did what. When someone invents a time machine we may finally know what actually happened.

The finished carbonated product known as Mountain Dew wasn't bottled in Marion, VA until 1965 according to Wythe Hull of the Marion Bottling Company.

 

[thesodafizz]

It was to my understanding that Hartman bottled what they called "Mountain Dew" with a paper label, and later the Barney & Ally bottle, before offering a franchise to Tri-Cities. Gordon is credited with having the one and only franchise for Mountain Dew issued by Hartman before tranferring The Tip Corp. (and along with it, the rights to Mountain Dew) to Bill Jones in Marion. It was Gordon, through Bridgeforth, who reformulated the flavor with Tri-Cities Lemonade as the base. It was agreed that Tri-Cities could bottle the "new" flavor along with a few bottling companies in North Carolina (the Minges).

Some of my closest friends worled at Tri-Cities at one time or another while going to school or after getting out of school. Some of them even worked with Bridgeforth. Plus, my ex's family was into grocery supply and Tri-Cities was right down the road.....so everyone rubbed elbows.

Charlie Gordon, as far as I know, is still around, although I am sure he's up in years now..

Hope this helps, a bit.

K

 

[morbious_fod]

ORIGINAL: thesodafizz

It was to my understanding that Hartman bottled what they called "Mountain Dew" with a paper label, and later the Barney & Ally bottle, before offering a franchise to Tri-Cities. Gordon is credited with having the one and only franchise for Mountain Dew issued by Hartman before tranferring The Tip Corp. (and along with it, the rights to Mountain Dew) to Bill Jones in Marion. It was Gordon, through Bridgeforth, who reformulated the flavor with Tri-Cities Lemonade as the base. It was agreed that Tri-Cities could bottle the "new" flavor along with a few bottling companies in North Carolina (the Minges).

Some of my closest friends worled at Tri-Cities at one time or another while going to school or after getting out of school. Some of them even worked with Bridgeforth. Plus, my ex's family was into grocery supply and Tri-Cities was right down the road.....so everyone rubbed elbows.

Charlie Gordon, as far as I know, is still around, although I am sure he's up in years now..

Hope this helps, a bit.

K

Unfortunately Charlie Gordon died in August 2004. Don't say anything to Dick Bridgeforth, but I don't agree with his Tri-City Beverage was the first to ever bottle Mountain Dew theory. It makes no logical business sense for Hartman to be buying bottles from 1951 throughout the 1950's just to store them. As far as I know there hasn't been a pre-1951 paper label mountain dew ever surface. That being said the trademark for the harman bottles claims that the brand was first used in commerce in 1948, October if memory serves, so that means that Hartman bottled the 7-up type version first. That's what I'm talking about by the Mountain Dew legend being a tangled mess of conflicting stories.

You are correct that Tri-City had the franchise for the drink; however, it wasn't the "new" flavor originally. Even between Tri-City and the Minges, there is no way of knowing now exactly which actually bottled the "new" flavor first; however, I do know that Marion, VA never bottled the firnished product or we would have had a Wythe and Bill bottle. LOL!

 

[madman]

ok if marion never bottled it, how is it known as the home of mtn dew lol mike

 

[morbious_fod]

ORIGINAL: madman

ok if marion never bottled it, how is it known as the home of mtn dew lol mike

Marion, VA was the location where the "new" flavor was created. From what I have come to understand Bill Jones' main product coming from the reorganized Tip Corporation, and maybe even before the reorganization in 1957, was custom flavors created for bottling companies. Tip just wasn't doing all that great. Say for example Tri-City Beverage wanted a flavor for their Tri-City Beverages line they would contact Bill Jones and, with their guidance, he would create an exclusive flavor for them; however, part of the arrangement was that Jones would keep the formula so that the bottlers would have to come to him for their beverage concentrates, which he bottled in the upstairs portion of the Tip Corporation building in Marion, VA.

The "new" flavor for Mountain Dew was based on, or actually, Tri-City Lemonade, which Dick Bridgeforth claims was formulated by Jones, with the help of himself and his father. Jones' grandson claims that he may have also created the 7-up style Mountain Dew as well, and we do know that Jones had had prior dealings with the Hartmans, according to Charlie Gordon, and it is likely that he may have adjusted or reformulate this flavor as well, so this is possible.

 

[madman]

wow ! god i love the south! thanks man im really seeing the big picture lol mike

 

[dollarbill]

Hey Madman
Knoxville uh Sure that wasn't from like Hazard, Kentucky. Seem my uncle Bill had the first still on the hill were he brewed him a gallon or two.For real is that were the name Mtn,Dew came from .
bill

 

[morbious_fod]

ORIGINAL: madman

wow ! god i love the south! thanks man im really seeing the big picture lol mike

Yeah there definitely wasn't one person who could lay claim to creating Mountain Dew as it exists today. It was truly a group effort over a number of years, and many set backs, I haven't even gotten into Wythe Hull's reason given for Jone's needing to change the formula, which was Pepsi's introduction of Teem to their bottlers. Pepsi had a policy that no bottler could bottle anything that directly competed with their products, thus when the Lemon Lime flavored teem was introduced, many of Jone's customers who were Pepsi bottlers found themselves with a problem when it came to the Lemon Lime Mountain Dew formula, which is one of the reasons, or the reason (according to what you believe), that he changed the formula. Hull says that it was the Minges, Pepsi bottlers, who required Jones to reformulate the brand, not Tri-City Beverage, who wasn't a Pepsi franchise bottler.

BTW The five people who were stockholders in the newly refinanced Tip Corporation were Allie Hartman (Hartman Beverages Pepsi franchise), Herman Minges (Pepsi bottler in Lumberton, NC), Richard Minges of Fayetteville, NC (another Pepsi bottler if memory serves), Wythe M. Hull Jr. of Marion, VA (Pepsi bottler who didn't actually bottle Mountain Dew at the time), and Bill Jones himself. I would dare say that being stockholders in the company, where as Bill Bridgeforth wasn't, the Minges might have a bit more sway in convincing Jones to create a new formula. We may never really know for sure, due to lack of records surrounding these events.

It's the conflicting stories from the people involved or their kin which makes tacking down who actually did what when very difficult. Thus the feud continues.

 

[Dragon0421]

I have always been told that mnt dew was in knoxville first or at least the first bottling of it because you have the clear mnt dew bottle that had barney and alley on it before they went to the green version of it. Just my 2 cents.