

I can’t see this fast food exclusive drink being offered anywhere outside one of Harlan Sander’s trademarked chicken shacks.

It’s good, but it’s definitely not the most refreshing drink out there. At face value, Sweet Lightning is basically Peach Dew with a few extra teaspoons of corn syrup. The initial taste is insanely sweet and really heavy in the peach department, but after several tastes, rinses and swishes, as hard as I tried, I could not detect even the slightest hint of honey. Sweet Lightning is supposedly infused with the trifecta power of peaches, honey, and an unbridled amount of the wild caffeine berry. This could be the result of a shitty soda fountain or an improper mix of syrup and soda water, so your own personal fizziness level may vary. This soda smells slightly fruity, and for some reason, there’s not a lot of carbonation. Out of the cup, this soda could be easily mistaken for a UA sample from a person that hasn’t drank water for a few days, so be careful if you work in the medical field. When poured out of those ugly-ass cups, it looks like darkened apple cider, which is clearly a shade or two darker than all the online advertising has led us to believe. Out of all the other Dew flavors this one feels the least “Mtn Dew-like”, since Sweet Lightning doesn’t on it’s own outright look like over the counter cough suppressant.

A warm, embracing amber glow resonates from the glass like a big corn syrup zen hug. When you drink it, be sure to wear your favorite fuckin’ filthy snapback hat!Īs required by law, this newest iteration of Mtn Dew also has an wholly unnatural hue and scent, as most mysterious chemicals should. I ordered 4 large cups of Sweet Lightning and an ubiquitous K2 meal, made famous from the same deadly mountain it was named after. The employee working the intercom tried to repeatedly assure me that Sweet Lightning was mango flavored, but I knew better because I had the internet. I pulled up to an empty drive thru and impatiently relayed my order with childlike glee. I went through my nearest drive thru that also happens to share real estate space with an A&W, which is a restaurant I’ve never understood the draw of, since A&W food only serves up the kind of food you’d get at a failed Dairy Queen. But unlike the limited edition Liberty Brew, Sweet Lightning isn’t sold in grocery stores: it’s only available directly from the freely flowing fountains at select KFC restaurants. Fresh off the trucks on July 1st, 2019, Pepsi has sucker punched us with another heavily caffeinated right hook as we’re still reeling from the unrelenting sugar shock of Liberty Brew.
