[Lee Stewart]

Ally and Barney Hartman initially worked for the Orange Crush soda plant bottling in Georgia before the Great Depression, according to Mental Floss. After the business went bankrupt, the Hartmans' discovered a lemon-lime soda that mixed perfectly with their favorite drink—bourbon. The duo began bottling it for their own use as a chaser in Knoxville, Tennessee during Prohibition. Smithsonian Magazine reports the phrase 'mountain dew' was slang for mountain-brewed moonshine.