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A Glimpse Inside The World Of A "Nutcracker" Dealer
By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 18, 2010
Modified Jan 18, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 18, 2010
Modified Jan 18, 2010
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Remember "nutcracker" — the bootleg concoction of booze and fruit juice sold in barbershops and bodegas uptown? Did you know you can make $20,000 a year selling it? A man who has mixed and distributed the sugary street cocktail for the past six years sat down with the Manhattan Times and described the trade.
According to a booze dealer who used the pseudonym Thatcher, nutcracker has become so popular in Harlem and Washington Heights because because of its low prices and sweet flavors, dubbed "The Flintstones," "Incredible Hulk," and "Finding Nemo." Most nutcracker brewing operations are very small, with the one person mixing batches of the drink from bourbon, white and red rums, flavored liqueurs and juices and selling it in either Styrofoam cups or 32-ounce plastic cups usually used for soup from take-out Chinese eateries. There is typically no marketing, though some folks have started branding their drinks and treating "it as an actual business."
Nutcracker sellers usually don't have a problem serving their drinks to 17- or 18-year-olds, though there have been disputes among brewers over serving 15-year-olds "[c]uz we was in the neighborhood, we knew their parents," Thatcher said. Even though it's winter — a slow season for nutcracker sales — the 34th Precinct and Manhattan North's vice unit have been trying to crack down on the trade. Cops say they even plan to dispatch undercover agents to nab nutcracker dealers. Despite the threat of increased enforcement, insiders say the drink is only getting more popular. "Pretty soon tourists are gonna be coming up here for it," Thatcher said. "Ya'll gonna have to start saying nutcracker in German."
Tagged
barber shop
bodega
booze
harlem
liquor
moonshine
nutcracker
styrofoam
underage
underage drinking
Washington Heights
Ben Muessig
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