The "by BARNEY and ALLY" bottle is one of the six rarest and most coveted bottles in any Mountain Dew bottler's collection. Not only is it one of the most significant bottles in Mountain Dew's history, it is also extremely rare, with less than 40 believed to be in existence today. In 1992 only 6 of these bottles had been reported but that same year a farmer in middle Tennessee found a full case (24) of empties in his barn and sold them to a dealer in Nashville.

The "by BARNEY and ALLY" bottle was the very first Applied Color Label (ACL) Mountain Dew bottle ever produced, but curiously, it was the second ACL bottle to go into production.   Because this bottle bears the names of the fathers of Mountain Dew it is a must for the serious Mountain Dew collector.

Barney and Ally Hartman ran a bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee during the 40's.   During this time the brothers were using a hard liquor mixer that they had concocted for their personal use and to use for a mixer during parties. Among their friends the mixer was jokingly called Mountain Dew.   In 1946, to further the joke of this "Home Brewed Concoction", Barney had a young high school student draw up a paper label.  The label showed a hillbilly with a gun and on the label they wrote "Home Brewed by BARNEY and OLLIE" (the High School student had misspelled Ally) ....   The mixer was so popular at parties that during the next two years friends convinced the Hartman brothers to take this home brewed mixer commercial and they applied for a patent in 1948.  The patent was awarded to the Hartman's on both the name "Mountain Dew" and also awarded on the now famous design in 1953.

In anticipation of going into production the "by BARNEY and ALLY" bottle, pictured above, was ordered in 1951 (and another run in 1952) but the bottles were stored in a warehouse in Knoxville until 1955.   Interestingly, in 1954 Tri-City Beverage in Johnson City, Tennessee beat Hartman Beverage into production by putting out the first commercially available Mountain Dew bottle "by CHARLIE, JIM and BILL"  .....   Many people are unaware that all of these early Mountain Dew bottles contained a flavor similar to "7-Up" not the lemon-lime flavor we enjoy today. (By Dick Bridgforth)

USED FROM BEGINNING TO HERE ***********************************

In the early 60's R.B. and L.D. Minges (Dean and Dick) were doing well with Mountain Dew in the Fayetteville N.C. plant while Herman Minges (Herman and L.L.) were doing well in the Lumberton, N.C. plant. By 1963 cousin Hoyte Minges saw a good thing and wanted in. His first bottle was "by HOYTE MINGES". Hoyte had four children - Hoyte Jr., Jeff, Rosemond and Tyrous (nicknamed Ty or Tippy). All of Hoyte's children showed up on Mountain Dew bottles, as did his dog, Good Time Charlie. This bottle honors Rosemond and Tyrous.

The 24 oz "by Charlie and Bill" bottle is one of the six most coveted Mountain Dew bottles and the second rarest bottle in any Mountain Dew collector's collection. In 1958 Bill Bridgforth, Manager of Tri-City Beverage, ordered the 24 oz bottles "by Charlie and Bill". This was the third bottle produced out of the Tri-City Beverage plant. Mr. Bridgforth and Tri-Cities' owner Charlie Gordon were very proud of this unique new bottle. Charlie Gordon's Tri-City Beverage (with his two managers, Bill and Jim) was the first plant anywhere in the world to commercially produce Mountain Dew. His "by Charlie - Jim and Bill" bottle (1954) was the first time the public had ever tasted Mountain Dew commercially and the first ACL Mountain Dew bottle. A year later, when Bill Kibler left Tri-City, Charlie started putting his Mountain Dew in a "by Charlie and Jim" bottle. Several years later Jim Archer left Tri-City and Bill Bridgforth replaced him as the new plant manager. Bill decided that Tri-City had enough regular sized bottles in its inventory and in 1958 decided to try a new approach - a new bottle. He ordered a refillable 24 oz. The 24 oz bottle was used exclusively in East Tennessee until around 1964 when Pepsi bought the Mountain Dew franchise. There is an interesting final chapter to this bottle, a chapter that explains its rarity. Some time after 1964, Bill Bridgforth got tired of paying the return deposit on bottles he couldn't use, but had no choice "'cause it has my name on it". So from roughly 1964 until he left Tri-City in the 80's, Bill and his route salesmen searched out and broke every 24 oz bottle they found. Today, there are very few bottles remaining, less than a dozen have been reported. (By Dick Bridgforth)

What is Mountain Dew? Is it the bottle or the drink inside the bottle? Who invented this popular drink and when?

Seven men were equally responsible for the success of Mountain Dew as we know it today. In alphabetical order they are:
- Bill Bridgforth, Johnson City, TN - Tri-City Beverage
- Charlie Gordon, Johnson City, TN - Tri-City Beverage
- Ally Hartman, Knoxville, TN - Hartman Beverage
- Barney Hartman, Knoxville, TN - Hartman Beverage
- Bill Jones, Marion, VA - Tip Corporation
- Dean Minges, Fayetteville, NC - Fayetteville Pepsi Bottling
- Herman Minges, Fayetteville, NC - Fayetteville Pepsi Bottling

In the early 1940's, two brothers, Ally and Barney Hartman, were bottling a lithiated-lemon ("7-up" flavor) drink as a personal mixer for hard-liquor. They jokingly called the drink "Mountain Dew" after Tennessee Mountain Moonshine.

In 1946, as a continuation of the joke, Barney and Ally added a paper label (misspelled by the artist) to their mixer showing a hillbilly with a gun and a "by BARNEY and OLLIE" inscription. The bottle was taken to a convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and their friends convinced them that this was a marketable drink.

On November 12, 1948 the Hartman Brothers filed for and received a trademark on the now famous label - a professional redraw of the 1946 paper label. The flavor was still the 7-up type flavor originated by them in the 1940's.

In 1951, Ally ordered the first ACL Mountain Dew bottle. The bottle was green glass with white paint (no red) showing a hillbilly shooting at a revenuer running from an outhouse. The bottle read "by BARNEY and ALLY". Interestingly, when the bottles arrived they were put in a warehouse and not used till 1955.

In 1954, Charlie Gordon decided that Tri-City Beverage need to add a new flavored drink and contacted his old friend, Ally Hartman. Ally sold Charlie the very first franchise for Mountain Dew and Charlie became the first bottler to commercially sell Mountain Dew (remember, Ally had put his bottles into storage). The very first commercially available ACL Mountain Dew bottle was the "by CHARLIE - JIM and BILL" bottle. Charlie had his concentrate formulated at the Tip Corporation in Marion, VA.

In 1955, based on Tri-City Beverage's success, Hartman Beverage pulled their bottles out of the warehouse and started bottling Mountain Dew commercially. Bill Kibler left Tri-City Beverage that year which left Charlie and his plant manager, Jim Archer. They produced another run of bottles that said "by CHARLIE and JIM".

Also in 1955, two other brothers, RB (Richard or Dick) and Herman Minges worked out a deal with Ally Hartman and started bottling Mountain Dew at their Fayetteville, NC Pepsi plant. Along with their other brother Dean, the first Minges bottle (the fourth ACL Mountain Dew bottle) was produced under the "by DEAN and DICK" label.

In 1957, Herman left the Fayetteville Pepsi Plant to start a new Pepsi plant in Lumberton, NC with his father LL Minges. They put out the fifth Mountain Dew Bottle - "by HERMAN & L.L.".

In August of 1957, the Tip Corporation was purchased by five men: Bill Jones (it's current President), Ally Hartman, RB Minges, Herman Minges and Wythe Hull. Wythe was a Marion, Virginia Pepsi bottler, but he never produced Mountain Dew since Charlie Gordon had that territories franchise.

On November 30th, 1957 Ally Hartman sold Mountain Dew to the Tip Corporation.

In 1959 Bill Bridgforth became the plant manager of Tri-City Beverage in Johnson City, Tennessee and worked with Bill Jones to develop a lemonade flavored drink called Tri-City Lemonade. The concentrate is produced by the Tip Corporation.

In 1960, Bill Bridgforth moved his Tri-City Lemonade flavor into the Mountain Dew Bottle which replacing the 7-up flavor. This new lemonade flavor is the flavor that is bottled as Mountain Dew today.

In 1962, Herman Minges also moves the Tri-City Lemonade flavor into his Mountain Dew Bottles to compete against a drink called SunDrop Cola.

On May 29th 1962 Tip grants it's first franchise to Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Kinston, NC. Kinston orders the "by HOYT MINGES" bottle.

On September 2nd 1964 Pepsi purchases the Tip Corporation and as such the Mountain Dew Flavor.

In 1965, Pepsi announces the "Yahoo Mountain Dew... It'll tickel your innards" campaign. The Mountain Dew bottle is redesigned, Willy the hillbilly (named after Willy Mcfalls) is redesigned and names are no longer allowed on the bottles. Up until this point about 174 different named bottles had been produced. However, many named bottles were still produced after 1965. Refer to the complete history for details.

In alphabetical order:
Johnson City, TN - the first commercial bottle of Mountain Dew was Produced here and the first bottle with the "new" flavor was unveiled here.
Knoxville, TN - the name was born here and the original owners of the concept were here. The first bottle ever produced (all be it not produced commercially).
Lumberton, NC - the start of the Minges' connection, the place that spurned Pepsi's interest in Mountain Dew.
Marion, VA - the HQ of the TIP Corporation and place where the "new" Mountain Dew was formulated.

Who did what?
- Bill Bridgforth, developed the taste we know as Mountain Dew today and first distributed the "new" Mountain Dew.
- Charlie Gordon, first commercial bottler of Mountain Dew, credited with it's initial success and bringing it to the attention of the world as a viable product.
- Barney & Ally Hartman, first owners of the name, designer's of the bottle and the Mountain Dew concept.
- Bill Jones, helped develop the taste we know today, president of Tip Corporation and helped construct the deal with Pepsi.
- Dean & Herman Minges, primarily responsible for the commercial success of Mountain Dew today. It was their business savvy and Pepsi connection that vaulted Mountain Dew into the 6th most popular soft drink.

For a complete history of Mountain Dew, you can order the book; All About Mountain Dew by Dick Bridgforth. The book contains 1) a thorough history complete with pictures, 2) the guide to collecting Mountain Dew bottles (a reprint of the section in this Web Site of the same name) and 3) a documented list of the known Mountain Dew named bottles. Click here for information on ordering.

The Key Dates for Mountain Dew

Early 1940's - Ally and Barney Hartman start Hartman Beverage in Knoxville, TN and bottles a 7up' flavored drink in a plain, green unlabeled bottle with a crown that reads "Mountain Dew".

1946 - As a joke, Barney and Ally Hartman have John Brichetto sketch out a label for their mixer that they call "Mountain Dew". The label has a hillbilly with a gun and says "by BARNEY and OLLIE" . The joke bottle is taken to a convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

1948 Sept 24 - The Mountain Dew trademark, as we know it today, was first used by Hartman Beverage (a redesign of the Brichetto joke label).

1948 Oct 10 - The Mountain Dew trademark was first used commercially by Hartman Beverage.

1948 Nov 12 - Mountain Dew trademark filed by Barney Hartman on behalf of Hartman Beverage.

1949 - Barney Hartman dies.

1951 - Ally orders ACL "by BARNEY and ALLY" Mountain Dew bottles but puts in warehouse until 1955.

1953 May 5 - Hartman Beverage Mountain Dew trademark officially accepted and published in US Principle Register.

1954 4th Qtr - Tri-City Beverage orders and puts in production the first ACL Mountain Dew bottle that the public sees - "by CHARLIE - JIM and BILL".

1955 - Hartman Beverage brings the 1951 "by BARNEY and ALLY" Mountain Dew bottle out of warehouse and goes into production.

1955 2nd Qtr - Tri-City Beverage orders third Mountain Dew ACL - "by CHARLIE and JIM".

1955 - Fayetteville Pepsi Bottling orders fourth ACL - "by DEAN and DICK" Mountain Dew Bottle.

1957 - Lumberton Pepsi orders fifth ACL - "by HERMAN & L.L." Mountain Dew bottle.

1957 August - Bill Jones (its current President) purchases The Tip Corporation, Ally Hartman, Richard & Herman Minges and Wythe Hull.

1957, Nov 30 - Ally Hartman sells The Mountain Dew Corporation of Knox County to The Tip Corporation of America (a company that Ally is a one-fifth stockholder).

1958 - Tri-City Beverage orders "by CHARLIE and BILL" 24 oz. Mountain Dew Bottle.

1959 - Tri-City Lemonade formulated by Bill Bridgforth.

1960 - Tri-City Lemonade moved into Mountain Dew bottle as the New Mountain Dew and it is distributed only in East Tennessee (The base flavor that is in Mountain Dew today).

1960 - Ally Hartman sells his shares of The Tip Corporation back to the Tip Corporation severing any interest in the Mountain Dew copyright that he and Barney originally started.

1962 - Tri-City Beverage orders "by CHARLIE and BILL" 9 oz. Mountain Dew bottle.

1962 April - Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Lumberton N.C. introduces New Mountain Dew in Columbus County NC.

1962 May 29 - First Tip owned franchise and first new flavor franchise sold by the Tip Corporation to Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Kinston, NC. Kinston orders Mountain Dew bottle "by HOYT MINGES".

1964 Sept 2- Pepsi purchases all the capital stock of The Tip Corporation and Tip continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo.

1965 - Pepsi announces "Yahoo Mountain Dew.. It'll tickle your innards" campaign. Bottle designed changed. Most New bottles ordered by Pepsi bottlers have no more names on them.

1965, Dec 30 - PepsiCo acquired all of the assets of The Tip Corporation and takes over direct operations of Mountain Dew

Part of the merchandising scheme of the early Mountain Dew was to give the impression that, like moonshine, Mountain Dew was distilled and brewed locally. By personalizing the inscription bottlers hoped to give the impression that a bunch of good ole boys with names like Charlie, Jim and Bill had made up a mess of that good ole Mountain Dew and it was made fresh from mountain water - just for you. The first bottles used the actual names of the bottling plant owners and/or managers - something like "by CHARLIE, JIM and BILL. "

As time went on, the bottlers started to issue contests to the route salesmen or plant workers to entice them to sell more (in hopes of getting their own names on a bottle). As an example, the top salesmen for a quarter could get his/her name on a run of bottles (usually - a gross or 144 cases) as did " J.T.-RAY-OTIS-O.P-AUTHUR-CHARLES" (JT was the route sales manager and Ray, Otis, OP, Authur and Charles were the route salesmen that reported to JT).

 

 

 

 

 

721 unique Mountain Dew bottles have been cataloged with various names on them. By far and away the majority of the bottles (550) have one or two names on them like "by BARNEY and ALLY" only a few (14) like the one pictured above (Billy-Eugene-Bill-Woodrow-Roger-Ted) have 5 names or more on the same bottle. Other bottles (71) feature the names of towns or counties like "LAURINBURG, N.C.". There is even one bottle with the name of a dog on it - Charlie, named after the faithful mascot GoodTime Charlie. Most of the bottles we don't know who they were named for .... if you know send us an E-Mail. (By Dick Bridgforth)

Seven men are credited for the "creation" of Mountain Dew as we know it today and this bottle bears the name of one of those men. The Fayetteville, NC Pepsi plant was only the third location in the country to produce Mountain Dew and this is their bottle. The Fayetteville Pepsi plant was run by the four Minges brothers - R.B., L.D., Charles and Herman Minges. Around 1955 the "First Family" of Pepsi bottlers - the Minges clan" took a real chance and purchased a bunch of machines called coolers. Coolers-refrigerated vending machines-had not been widely used and this batch would be the first ever seen in North Carolina. R.B. and L.D., the president and vice-president of the plant needed a variety of flavors to put in their new fangled cooling machines. When the deal for a 7-Up flavored drink called Bubble-Up fell through, they went with a new drink called
Mountain Dew, which at the time was also a 7-Up flavored drink.

R.B. (Richard B Minges or Dick) and L.D. (L. Dean Minges) put their names on that historic bottle as Dean & Dick. Although R.B. has stated that he thought they also produced a Dick and Dean bottle, none have ever been reported. The only two confirmed bottles produced by the Fayetteville plant are "by Dean and Dick" and simply "Dean and Dick".

The bottle is historically significant for several reasons. First, it bears the name of one of the seven men credited
with Mountain Dew's success-Dick Minges. Second, R.B. changed the wording in the frame to "Made with flavors specially blended with mountain water in the traditional
hillbilly style". Bottles produced at two other bottling plants prior to the Minges bottle carried the phrase "A special blend of mountain water ...". Later, attorneys would attempt to have R.B. remove the phrase "blended with mountain water", charging the phrase was deceptive but the Minges refused. Only Minges' bottles state "specially blended
with mountain water". Third, the hillbilly on the neck of the Minges bottle faces a different direction than on any other bottle of Mountain Dew, or as R.B. might have put it, everybody else has the hillbilly on the neck facing wrong.

Pepsi bought Mountain Dew from the Tip Corporation of America in 1964. A year later in 1965, Pepsi initiated the "Yahoo, Mountain Dew" campaign. With this campaign, Pepsi changed the look and feel of Mountain Dew bottles. The Hillbilly was redrawn to replace the original which had been drawn by Sam Newman of Knoxville, TN. The new Hillbilly took on a friendlier look and appears cartoonist. In addition, Pepsi lightened up the whole scene by redrawing the Pig with his leg covering his mouth as if he is laughing at the revenuer running from the outhouse. This is known as a "Pig's leg up" bottle. Last but not least, Pepsi mandated that bottlers could no longer put names on bottles - like "by Charlie and Bill". You will never see a Pig's leg up bottle with names on it. Even though Pepsi changed the bottles in 1965, names continued to show up with manufacturing dates up until 1968. Only the "Sweet-16" dared to buck Pepsi. The "Sweet 16 were the bottlers who had the original franchise and did not abide by this change.