According to discussions taking place at Salute to Soda, BevNET, and Beverage Digest, Coke is going to be breathing new life into their long-neglected citrus brand.

New Mello Yello 20 oz. design
(Source: Beverage-Digest. Used with permission)

The new designs for packaging have been spotted in a couple places on the 'net, including some official Coke websites.

New Mello Yello packaging
(Source: MyCokeRewards.com)

This citrus soda was introduced in 1979 and has had its own ups-and-downs throughout history. Anyone remember when it was featured on Tom Cruise's car in the film Days of Thunder?

Mello Yello, Mello Yello Cherry, Mello Yello Melon
(Source: Coca-Cola Media Downloads)

In the early 2000s, Mello Yello Cherry was introduced in response to Mountain Dew Code Red… and was followed by Mellow Yello Melon.

Mello Yello Afterglow
(Source: BevReview Photo Archives)

In 2004 we saw the introduction of peach/tangerine-flavored Mello Yello Afterglow, which we really didn't care for.

By 2005 Coke had their next Mountain Dew-killer lined up — Vault — and Mello Yello once again took a backseat, seeing regional distribution in the United States and disappearing completely from some areas.

Given all the discussion taking place lately, it would seem that Coke is once again bringing Mello Yello to the frontlines with a package redesign and additional marketing support. The company revised their trademark on the brand earlier this year. Vault is still around, but it's been a few years now and frankly hasn't taken off despite the heavy promotion Coke gave it upon launch. The Mello Yello/Vault combo is an interesting strategy, pushing two citrus flavors with varying amounts of caffeine into the marketplace.

1979 Mello Yello logo
(Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slieschke / CC BY-NC 2.0)

The new packaging has been leaked via Coke's MyCokeRewards.com website and closely resembles the original 1979 look of the drink. While the packaging is retro and Throwback-like, it seems like the same HFCS-based formula will be used. We'd be more than happy to be proven wrong on that!

The scuttlebutt has Mello Yello returning in April 2010… stay tuned!

It's been important for Coke to keep trying to chip away at Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand. According to Beverage Digest, "over the first nine months of 2004, Mountain Dew was the only major non-diet brand that grew in sales. In 2003, Americans bought 638.7 million cases of Mountain Dew, making it the fourth-most-popular brand in the country."

Thanks to my friend Eric Childs, who lives in Michigan, I was able to personally experience Vault. He provided me with a bottle over this past weekend. I had read what others were saying about the drink, and even checked out his own review, but I was anxious to try this myself.

This review also inaugurates the new Tannerman "beverage review tree", given that Amy and I are now living at a new location. But I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for that first beverage review tree.

But I digress. Let's talk about Vault!

The packaging is very attractive, with a plastic bottle the resembles that which you might find with Gatorade. The bottle itself is imprinted with Vault's "V" logo. Vault proclaims on the label that it "drinks like a soda, kicks like an energy drink." Believe it or not, that awkward phrase is actually trademarked by Coke. Whatever. I like the green/yellow/black color scheme quite a bit, and the Vault logo is simple, yet effective.

Upon opening the cap, I took a whiff of the beverage. The first scent I could correlate it to was that cheap orange drink that McDonald's provides to non-profits. I know I've have my share of that stuff from church events growing up. And frankly, it always tasted watered down and lame, which didn't bode well for my mental judgment of Vault.

The taste? Sweet, somewhat like Mountain Dew, but not quite. There really wasn't much of an aftertaste. It's like the drink flavor is there… and then it just stops. And I couldn't get that McDonald's Orange Drink scent out of my head. The flavor was less citrus-y than Mello Yello, but still tolerable. Overall, there was quite a bit of fakeness in the taste. On the plus side, the drink doesn't make you belch too much. Also, for those looking at staying awake, you'll be happy to know that Vault has 70.5 mg of caffeine per 12 oz. serving (compared to 55.0 mg for Mountain Dew). Yikes!

Overall impression? Nice try Coke, but you'll never beat Mountain Dew with this product.

Coke might launch a Mountain Dew-like drink called Vault, the newsletter Beverage Digest reported Friday. Vault would be a successor to Coke's failed Surge, a Mountain Dew wannabe that debuted in 1997 only to virtually disappear by the fall of 2002.

Over the first nine months of 2004, Mountain Dew was the only major non-diet brand that grew in sales. In 2003, Americans bought 638.7 million cases of Mountain Dew, making it the fourth-most-popular brand in the country.

Pepsi expressed little concern about the possibility of another Mountain Dew-ish product from Coke. "We've seen this movie before, and it's a horror show," declared spokesman Dave DeCecco. "No one else can do the Dew."

For years, Coke has tried to come up with a counteroffensive to battle Pepsi's strong Dew franchise. The company wanted to replace their failing Mello Yello brand, which had been around for years, but had little effect on the Dew popularity. One of Coke's more notable failures, Surge, was launched in 1997 but taken off the market in 2002, despite having quite a strong fanbase. (There was even a documentary created to bring the drink back!). One of the alternate formulas for Surge was later used to create Citra (which is now known as Fanta Citrus). Even Cadbury Schweppes' Dr.Pepper/Seven Up division has tried to get into the game with dnL.

When Pepsi experimented with launching a spinoff flavor of Mountain Dew (Mountain Dew Code Red, 2001), Coke got a new fire in their belly. Code Red's success meant that Pepsi was going to launch even more flavor derivatives on the Dew brand. These seem to come out fairly quick, including Mountain Dew Blue Shock (2002, 7-11 Slurpee flavor), Mountain Dew LiveWire (2003, limited/full-time), Mountain Dew Baja Blast (2004, Taco Bell exclusive), and Mountain Dew Pitch Black (2004, limited).

Coke fell back on the only citrus-y brand they currently had working, Mello Yello, to launch a counter offensive. They initially spun off two new flavors of the drink, Mello Yello Cherry and Mello Yello Melon. My wife Amy and I first tried these drinks during a trip through the Smoky Mountains in Summer 2003. Here's what we wrote at the time on our personal blog:

We decided to open one of two new flavors of Mello Yello that I picked up: Mello Yello Melon and Mello Yello Cherry. They're only sold in the Southeast at the moment from what I hear.

The Cherry flavor seems to be Coke's answer to Mountain Dew Code Red, though it has a stronger cherry flavor.

Melon ended up being a nice change of pace as well, having a unique flavor that can probably be described as "Sprite Remix Tropical with more fruity flavor."

Both were pretty decent flavors that, while refreshing, weren't really better than Mountain Dew. I did like Melon's unique flavor, however. Both brands have been discontinued, unfortunately.

A third spinoff drink appeared shortly after the Cherry/Melon experiment: Mello Yello Afterglow. Afterglow, like Cherry/Melon, was also a regional product in the Southeast and was canceled not too long ago. However, during a recent trip Amy and I took to Nashville, TN, we happened upon a few bottles at a gas station in Kentucky. Afterglow was uniquely marketed as "A Natural Flavored Soda", and looking at the ingredients, it really did contain orange juice.

Being orange in color, one would expect this drink to have an orange flavor. Those expectations were a little off, I found, as there was a strong bitterness to the drink. It had somewhat of a tangerine vibe, or maybe it was peach… I couldn't really place it. But beyond that, it just didn't taste very good. When you see Amy make a scrunched up face while sampling a drink, you know it's not a winner. It wasn't as bad as say 7Up Plus, but it wasn't that great either. Compared to the other drink we found on our Nashville trip, Fanta Citrus, this beverage just didn't stack up.

Message to Coke: Keep trying!