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You know it’s almost summer when you start seeing vendors hauling coolers through New York City’s parks and beaches, selling brightly colored, ice cold drinks. New Yorkers call them “nutcrackers,” but have you ever wondered why? And what distinguishes a nutcracker from any other fruity cocktail?
Led Black, the founder of the Uptown Collective news outlet, made a documentary about nutcrackers in 2012. He describes them as “underground street cocktails” that carry a certain mystique because they’re technically illicit.
“Every New Yorker has that ‘what’s a nutcracker’ moment,” Black told me. “Once you try it, you’re like, I got hammered for like ten bucks or five bucks and it wasn't completely yucky.”
According to Black, the nutcracker was invented in the ‘90s by Jose Chu, who manages Flor de Mayo, a Chinese-Peruvian restaurant that still operates on the Upper West Side.
Chu, who still works at Flor de Mayo, told me that he and his friends were tired of drinking poor quality liquor, so they decided to make a strong drink with Amaretto, Bacardi 151 (which has since been discontinued), Southern Comfort whiskey, pineapple juice, lime juice and grenadine syrup.
It was informally known as the “juice special,” allegedly named after a patron known as “Juice.”
But later Chu said he saw a TV ad for the Rockettes and decided to officially name the drink “nutcracker.” When I asked him if he claims the title of original nutcracker creator, Chu told me, “no doubt about it.”
From Flor De Mayo, nutcrackers immediately hit the streets. Black told me his barber’s friend flirted with one of Flor de Mayo’s bartenders to get the coveted recipe, and then soon started selling them for $10 out of her barbershop.
“It was like the best haircut I ever had in my life because by the time I got my hair done, I was in the clouds,” he said. “And, from there, nutcrackers became ubiquitous.”
Chu said nutcrackers rose to popularity so quickly because they're very strong but also very tasty. It also didn’t hurt that nutcrackers pair well with everything on Flor de Mayo’s menu, like pork chops, seafood and fried plantains, he said.
I ordered the lomo saltado and can confirm that the nutcracker tasted great with it.
To this day, the distinctive drinks, which are bright red and served in circular cups (which the restaurant has had since the ‘90s) with little red straws, are a common sight on Flor de Mayo’s tables, he said.
Jose Chu, who manages Flor de Mayo, a Chinese-Peruvian restaurant on the Upper West Side, with a classic nutcracker cocktail
But the nutcrackers found in the city’s parks and beaches today stray far from Flor de Mayo’s original because they use completely different liquor bases and fruit mixers.
The name is what keeps it viable and “street official,” Black said. It allows anyone with a strong entrepreneurial spirit to put their own twist on the drink and start a hustle, Black said.
To Black, the nutcracker’s evolution is “a story of immigrants' innovation — taking a bad situation and finding a way to make a living and rise above the situation that you're currently in.”
That hustle still exists among vendors like Jerome Guthrie, who was selling various different drinks in an ice cooler at a cookout at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. He said nutcrackers, which he started selling in 2013 as a hustle, are his staple drinks. But now his business — Head Bangaz — has turned into one of his main sources of income.
His motto is “if it’s whack, you get your money back, and that’s a fact,” which he says helps him stand out from other nutcracker sellers.
To Guthrie, a nutcracker is like a tropical drink that “packs a punch” with a light liquor base. He uses different Minute Maid juices, fruit cocktails and vodka. Guthrie told me he’s never had Flor de Mayo’s original nutcracker, but that he’d love to try it.
On hot summer days, Guthrie told me he’s guaranteed to sell out, especially because he’s willing to deliver his drinks to all five boroughs. He told me he can make around $2,000 or more a month and hopes to start selling them wholesale one day.
Despite living in New York City for most of my 20s, this was my first time trying a nutcracker. Jose’s tasted exactly how he described it, like cherry cough syrup, but not in a bad way, and I could barely taste the alcohol. Jerome's was refreshing, fruity and strong as well … kind of like an upgraded version of a cocktail you make for yourself at a party. And as someone who loves sweets, it was the perfect drink for a hot day. Both were definitely strong and hit after a few sips.
Whether you drink them or not, nutcrackers are the New York City staple drink because they only exist here, Guthrie said.
Black agreed. New York City is constantly innovating and adapting to changes, and the nutcracker is an example of that, he said.
