What Does Mountain Dew VooDew 2023 Taste Like?

I love mysteries, so of course, I love the annual Mountain Dew VooDew mystery flavor. It’s always surprising to me how hard it can be to identify a drink or candy or chip when you don’t know what it’s supposed to be. I’m old enough to remember the Pepsi Challenge, and how even die-hard Pepsi or Coke fans got the two colas confused when they didn’t have a label to guide them. So Mountain Dew VooDew makes for a fun challenge.

Mountain Dew seems to savor its rebel reputation. Who else would release a dill pickle flavor or a birthday cake soda? This is a very different beverage than Coke, which goes for the abstract with its Coca-Cola Creations line, offering drinks that supposedly taste like experience points, or space, or dreams. Pretty smart of Coke, actually, because then who can judge how well they did? No one knows what outer space really tastes like!

It’s different with a mystery flavor, where we all get to guess what it is. Once the answer is revealed, we can see just how wrong we were, or complain that the concoction really doesn’t taste anything like pumpkin insides, or whatever the mystery flavor was. Mountain Dew has set itself a tough challenge, and I applaud them for it.

What is Mountain Dew’s new mystery flavor?

Taste of Home, Courtesy MTN Dew (2)

The Mountain Dew VooDew mystery flavor has been revealed as Airheads Cherry! For the first time, the two brands have teamed up to infuse Mountain Dew with Airhead’s iconic cherry flavor. It is now available in stores nationwide until the end of spooky season.

The bold label features a spooky scene that reminds me of Disneyland’s Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House sound effects record. There’s a faceless banshee or ghoul; cobwebs, bats and bones; and a mohawk-wearing mummy with eyes.

The 2023 VooDew mystery flavor is in stores now. I see online that a lot of fans are finding it in 20-ounce bottles, but I had to buy an entire 12-pack of 12 ounce cans, because that was all my store had. It comes in regular and zero sugar versions.

Past mystery flavors were candy corn, fruit candy explosion, fruit candy chews and sour candy flavor. Other than candy corn, those sound pretty generic to me. (What even is the difference between fruit candy explosion and fruit candy chews?)

What does Mountain Dew VooDew taste like?

Mountain Dew Voo Dew 2023 has a light, pleasant cherry-vanilla scent. It surprised me by pouring out as a kind of foggy white color, not the yellow of traditional Mountain Dew or a fruity red color.

I didn’t do any Google searches before taking a sip, and immediately thought of Airheads candy, the taffy candy that comes in a bunch of different fruit flavors. Since Mountain Dew had already said it’s partnering with a candy, Airheads was my guess. Airheads has a mystery flavor, too, called White Mystery and reportedly made from leftover bits of assorted flavors mixed together. It’s sweet and pleasant and gives me cherry Slurpee vibes.

Is VooDew a trick or a treat? I liked it! This year’s mystery flavor falls firmly on the “treat” side of things for me. And at least I won’t be haunted that I picked the wrong flavor.