Nutcracker (drink)

History

The Nutcracker drink likely originated in 1993 or 1994 within the Dominican community of Washington Heights. It was created at Flor de Mayo restaurant, which calls its version the "Nut Cracker" and considers it the original. The cocktail was developed by José Chu, a restaurant manager, and a drug dealer known as "Juice," who asked for a new drink. Its name came from a New York City Ballet advertisement for The Nutcracker playing on television at the time.

The original mix included Bacardi 151, Southern Comfort, Amaretto, pineapple juice, grenadine, and Rose's Sour Lime, and was noted for being potent, syrupy, sweet, and tart. Starting in 1999, a Dominican-American hairdresser named "Fatyuil" began bottling and selling the drink for $10 each from her apartment on St. Nicholas Avenue, which helped it gain popularity. From 2000 onward, Freddy Tejada further spread its fame by selling the drink from a barbershop on Audubon Avenue and featuring it on the public access television show Dominican USA. The Nutcracker then became widely popular in Harlem and throughout New York City.

Legality

Selling nutcrackers without a license is illegal in New York, and police have sometimes tried to enforce this. In 2010, Black community leaders like Al Sharpton raised concerns about the health risks these unregulated drinks posed, especially to children. The following year, the "nutcracker bill" became law, backed by State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Assemblyman Nelson Castro, and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. It allowed barbershops to lose their license if caught selling alcohol to minors. Some sellers have since tried to make their businesses more professional and legal to ease these worries. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down bars and restaurants for dine-in service, while alcohol to-go became legal. This created more competition for traditional nutcracker vendors, with some to-go cocktails appearing in the same kind of juice bottles that nutcrackers are known for.