Anyone who has spent time on one of New York City’s many public beaches is familiar with the incessant call of “Nutcracker! Nutcracker!” It’s as ubiquitous a sound as the squawking of the seagulls or the jingle of a Mister Softee truck. Discreetly flag down a Nutcracker vendor and, for about $10, you’ll be handed a sweet mix of liquor, juice, and who knows what else. Some come frozen, like a strong slushie, while others are more like boozy fruit punch. Nutcrackers are, after all, generally homemade and each recipe is unique to the person mixing it. Think of them as a beach-ready cousin of bathtub gin.
Nutcrackers, though distinctly a summertime drink, get their name from a frostier piece of New York City iconography: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. As the story goes, the manager of Flor de Mayo, a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side, was looking for for a name for his new cocktail when a TV commercial for the stage show came on screen. “Nutcracker” seemed like a perfect description for the eye-crossing effects of the strong, sweet concoction.
What originally made Flor de Mayo’s Nutcrackers appealing was the fact that the restaurant sold them to-go, a down-low summer treat in a city where drinking on the street can come with a fine. Soon, the cocktails migrated across the boroughs, reaching up into Harlem and Washington Heights, and down onto the beaches of Coney Island and Rockaway.
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![Rose Annis](https://img.atlasobscura.com/83aNiBIo2dmNgYuVLLCar6B-yzQua5boFD7r15jfvmU/rs:fill:41:41:1/g:ce/q:81/sm:1/scp:1/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h/em9uYXdzLmNvbS8y/MDE4LzA1LzA3LzE4/LzQ2LzQwL2M1ODZm/NGZiLWI2OGItNDM3/Yy05Yzc3LWE4Njlh/M2YyYWUwZi9JTUdf/MjEyMy5KUEc.jpg)
Sources
- cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/an-underground-drink-cast-as-a-film-star/
- www.circa.com/story/2016/08/11/whats-in-the-nutcracker-nycs-illegal-street-drink-classic
- nypost.com/2014/07/14/boozy-illegal-nutcracker-drinks-remain-an-nyc-summer-staple/
- www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/nutcracker-drinks-forbidden-fruit-nyc-beaches