We stay in a world constructed by capital, so after all Cheetos and Mountain Dew occur to be owned by the identical conglomerate: PepsiCo. Both merchandise have been a part of the PepsiCo household for the reason that Sixties, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have been a factor since 1990. So it’s barely stunning that it took so lengthy for somebody to combine one with the opposite and launch it as Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew, even simply as an apparent ploy for brand-friendly headlines.

Gizmodo and our colleagues at sister web site Lifehacker noticed the announcement for this novelty product again in August and fell for the lure instantly. PepsiCo was capable of throw us a number of 16-ounce cans of supposedly spicy beverage to take a look at to take a look at. This evaluation stands out as the closest any readers come to figuring out how Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew tastes, because the product was solely accessible on the market on the Mountain Dew web site for an hour on Aug. 31 earlier than the corporate ran out of inventory. This could also be slightly blessing in disguise for ya.

We drank our cans of the (disturbingly darkish orange) soda not too long ago. Here’s what our style take a look at discovered: Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew makes good on half of its title. For instance, it does style like Mountain Dew. Unfortunately, it’s not Flamin’ Hot, and even scorching in any respect, which is the extra necessary a part of the equation.

We anticipated some burn from this—it’s a novelty product, in spite of everything, and that is the age of the Paqui One Chip Challenge and different absurdly spicy gimmick merchandise starting from ghost pepper jelly beans and scorching honey to chili-flavored ice cream. More usually, client palates have grown more heat-tolerant lately, which means issues that declare to be scorching at the moment are a bit likelier to truly boast some kick.

But on a spicy scale of 1 to 10, this ranks at someplace round a… two? Otherwise, it tastes precisely like common Mountain Dew in case you crumbled a Flaming’ Hot Cheeto into it. This was not the scorching assault on my style buds I used to be promised. I imply, that is how executives at PepsiCo billed it:

“As a brand, DEW has a rich history of experimenting with new flavors our fans love. We certainly had them in mind when we developed the FLAMIN’ HOT beverage,” says Matt Nielsten, Sr. Director, Marketing. “This is one of our most provocative beverages yet, and we’re excited for DEW Nation to taste the unique blend of spicy and classic sweet citrus flavor of MTN DEW.”

Other than the truth that that is simply Mountain Dew with a touch of capsaicin, it tastes tremendous, I assume. There are notes of citrus, carbonation, and sugar/sweetener. According to the label, a single can has 220 energy, 58 grams of added sugar, 59 grams of carbohydrates, and a surprisingly weak 72 milligrams of caffeine (a superb bit lower than an 8-ounce cup of espresso, which comprises round 95mg). Fans of the OG drink will most likely have little to complain about if they may get a can, which they most likely can’t with out paying at least $13 on eBay.

However, I don’t suggest you try and make a cocktail with it, and in case you do, I particularly don’t suggest you idly use 106-proof mezcal (apologies to Oaxaca’s mezcaleria Las Pencas Hablan, which didn’t should be dragged into this) or pair it with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Mac ‘N Cheese. This takes it from an underwhelming-but-acceptable experience straight into tasting like a scented cleaning product, and my stomach predictably felt like a bubble of nausea only barely kept in by a layer of Flamin’ Hot slime. I blame capitalism.