We Finally Scored a Can of Hard Code Red, Here’s Our Review

The newest flavor in the Hard Mountain Dew lineup is finally here and on shelves across the country. It’s Hard Code Red! We’ve been eagerly awaiting this flavor for years now, but the question remains: Is it any good? As the self-proclaimed Adam Schefter of Mountain Dew (Adam ScheftDEW, if you will), I’ve cracked one open to find out just that. 

New Hard Dew!

Hard Mountain Dew Code Red

Hard Mountain Dew

Pros: This new Hard Dew smells EXACTLY like classic Code Red. I am impressed. While you can certainly taste the alcohol, I think it is a pretty faithful version of Code Red. I had a bottle of full sugar Code Red on the side to compare, and while they certainly aren’t identical to each other, it’s close. If you blind-tasted Hard Code Red, you’d be able to identify the flavor as Mountain Dew Code Red.

Cons: The con here is the “con” that most people have regarding Hard Mountain Dew in general: The aftertaste is not good. I am known to enjoy zero sugar drinks and I’m certainly not one to judge a zero sugar drink by its zero sugar cover, but I think there comes a point at which a flavor is impacted so much by artificial sweeteners that you almost have to judge it. I feel like I’m about at that point here with Hard Mountain Dew Code Red.

While I think it is good, I think it has so much potential to be much better if it was full sugar.

Credit: Liv Averett / Hard Mountain Dew

Rating:

6/10

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