Redditors are agog today over a San Francisco-set photo of "cleverly named, pre-made cocktail kits in ziploc baggies" sold at a corner store, with some taking this as an indication that SF's "artisanal" culture had hit a new level of tweeness. But you and I know something (well, a lot of things) most of these pundits don't: Those bags of booze are old as hell, and they're called Cutty Bangs.
My husband, whose German family left Heidelberg for Shotwell and 24th in 1979, says he recalls similar plastic-bagged booze and mixer combos at stores up and down the block back in the day, and by 2010, Uptown Almanac described the practice as "the classic of all corner store hook ups."
Current mayoral candidate Broke-Ass Stuart took a deep dive on these plastic bags of hangover in 2011, in which he tried Bangs classics including the "Freak Me" (cranberry juice, Bacardi Melon, Watermelon Pucker, Cîroc vodka, and Tanqueray).
By 2012, the phenom was back on 24th (assuming it had ever truly left), at George's Market. I've since seen it — and I'm sure you have, too — at corner stores in the Excelsior, Ingleside and Parkside (never you mind why I'm hitting neighborhood booze stores. Never you mind).
And that takes us to yesterday, when a doubtlessly well-meaning Redditor appeared charmed and surprised by the "cleverly named, pre-made cocktail kits" at a Valencia Street liquor store, saying that he or she "thought it was sort of cute."
Cute? Sure, why not? New? No. Cultural appropriation? Maaaybe. But a sign of SF's fancy-pants cocktail culture hitting a new level of silliness? Not this time.