When the culinary team at Denver-based breakfast chain was brainstorming new menu items, it quietly slipped dirty sodas onto a secret menu.
Dirty sodas? Secret menu? Sounds a little salacious, yes? In reality, these nonalcoholic sippers are perfectly PG — classic sodas remixed with creams and flavored syrups. But they did recently spill over to Colorado menus (and elsewhere around the country) from Utah after being the beverage of choice on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a scandalous reality show that follows TikTok mom influencers in Utah.
“We don’t drink alcohol or do drugs, and so itap kind of our vice,” said one of the “Mormon Wives,” Demi Engemann, in a confessional during the show’s first season, which aired in 2024. The women have frequently shared their custom dirty soda orders and helped catapult the once-niche drink, often guzzled from 44-ounce mega cups, into the spotlight. The series also features B-roll of Swig — the fast-growing Utah-based chain widely credited as the originator of the dirty soda — cementing the beverage’s pop-culture moment.
Industry insiders say you can expect to see these sugar-spun dirty sodas popping up everywhere in 2026 and beyond. They’re an easy win for restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food chains because they allow owners to leverage ingredients they already have behind the bar or barista counter.
“Dirty sodas are simple to execute, highly customizable, and very profitable,” said Jonathan Tofel, founder & CEO at Mission Field, a Denver-based, global CPG (consumer packaged goods) innovation, insights and strategy consultancy. “They give guests something playful without adding complexity to the kitchen.”
Thatap certainly the case at Snooze, which creates more of a scratch-made dirty soda, building its strawberry shortcake dirty soda with Sprite, vanilla syrup and a house-made strawberry purée — normally destined for pancakes but moonlighting here in beverage form — plus a splash of vanilla cream thatap also used in French toast. Other $3.95 dirty sodas include a pineapple upside-down-inspired version and a creamy, fizzy Fanta-based orange dreamsicle.
Never had a dirty soda before? “Itap like a cream soda when you mix it up,” explained Jordan Russell, senior brand manager at Snooze.
Where to find dirty sodas in the Denver area
Cookie and soda shop Twisted Sugar’s pitch to franchise owners leans on both habit and indulgence: The average American drinks a whopping 38 gallons of soft drinks a year, yet still craves new flavors, according to the company. Its market research also points to a thriving “sweet treat” culture, showing that 70% of consumers buy desserts at least once a week as a form of self-reward.
At the soda shop’s Highlands Ranch outpost (3624 E. Highlands Ranch Parkway), that appeal is on full display. On a recent weekday afternoon, the store was bustling with high schoolers. A wall of syrups beckoned soda lovers to create their own combinations, but I opted for a pre-imagined menu favorite: Peaches and Cream, made with Sprite, peach purée and cream. Flavor add-ins, though, range from coconut to green apple, kiwi, lavender, passionfruit, vanilla and more.
At Punch Bowl Social (65 Broadway, Denver), an eatertainment spot, dirty sodas have earned a permanent spot on the menu, including a Dirty Cherry Cola ($7) with cold foam and a black cherry syrup or an alcoholic version with Jack Daniels for $12. The $12 Pineapple Express is made with tequila, Jarritos pineapple soda, pineapple, lime and strawberry.
The team at Ziggi’s Coffee, which has several locations in the Denver metro area, said it originally tested dirty sodas in select markets and the drinks quickly became a guest favorite, so the shop added them as permanent menu items in June 2025.
Ziggi’s Dirty Sodas start with familiar soda bases like Dr Pepper, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Starry and Mug Root Beer, then get “dirtied” up with flavor infusions, fruit purées, creamy finishes and toppings like boba, fruit or whipped cream. The lineup ranges from fan favorites like Ridin’ Dirty (Dr Pepper, a splash of vanilla and a coconut cream twist) and Neon Wave (Mountain Dew with blue raspberry, coconut and raspberry cold foam) to seasonal drinks. The coffee shop features 20 signature combinations, plus many more ways to customize your own drink.
Look a little closer, though, and the dirty soda concept isn’t entirely new. Soda drinkers have been experimenting with mash-ups for decades — ever since fast-food restaurants moved soda machines out from behind the counter and gave customers free rein to mix their own drinks, Tofel said.
“Coke and a root beer mix?” he said. “Orange soda and Mountain Dew? Dirty sodas took this type of natural experimentation up another level.”
How ‘Mormon Wives’ created a drink trend
Many Mormons follow a health code known as the “Word of Wisdom,” which discourages alcohol, coffee and tea. Soda, however, long occupied a gray area. But in 2012, the church clarified that caffeinated sodas were, indeed, acceptable, according to an episode on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Around this time, the market was wide open for indulgent, customizable non-alcoholic drinks, says Ben Tannenbaum, a beverage-industry analyst whose newsletter Proof Points tracks industry trends.
“Drive-thru soda shops like Swig and Sodalicious became the local Starbucks equivalent — social gathering spots built around fountain sodas jazzed up with flavored syrups and cream,” he said.
Swig opened its first shop in St. George, Utah, in 2010, and has since grown to more than 120 locations around the United States. (There are none in Colorado, though.)
“Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was a cultural accelerant, Tannebaum points out. After the show premiered in September 2024, Yelp saw a more than 600% increase in dirty soda searches from the prior year.
“It did what reality TV does best and made regional culture feel accessible and aspirational to a national audience,” he said. “Suddenly, dirty sodas weren’t just a Utah quirk; they were a lifestyle product.”
And corporations took notice. Once you have those search numbers, chains move fast, Tannebaum said.
Taco Bell experimented with a Dirty Baja Blast, Jack in the Box has Twisted Sodas, and Sonic got in the game, too. Coffee-mate even released retail dirty soda creamers so people can DIY at home.
“Now I’m waiting for the first dirty, dirty soda — dirty soda with alcohol — brand to launch,” Tannebaum said. “It’s only a matter of time.”
