The history of Sherbet

Timeline

1. Early 2000sMario Guzman, later Mr. Sherbinski, starts growing in a 6-by-5-foot space in his San Francisco garage.³
2. Around 2004–2007Sherbinski, cultivating for about 14 years by late 2018, says he met the Cookie Fam in the Sunset District about three years after he started.⁴
3. By 2012Pink Panties exists, bred from Burmese genetics and an OG or Florida Kush; the accounts differ on which (see genetics).^1,5,6
4. 2012A Pink Panties seedling in Sherbinski’s flowering room turns out male and pollinates a room of Girl Scout Cookies; Sunset Sherbert grows from the seeds.^1,7
5. 2013Sunset Sherbert fetches $4,000 a wholesale pound at medical cannabis clubs, according to Leafly’s genealogy.¹
6. Feb 2014High Times profiles the Cookie Family, Jigga, Flux and Mr. Sherbinski, and lists Sherbert among their dessert-named strains.⁸
7. 2014A female Sunset Sherbert is made to produce pollen and crossed back to GSC, and Gelato is the result.^1,9
8. 2018Exotic Genetix crosses Sunset Sherbert with Mint Chocolate Chip for Rainbow Chip, and Gelato becomes Leafly’s first Strain of the Year.^10,11
9. Apr 2019GreenState reports that Sunset Sherbet was named for San Francisco’s Sunset District, where Guzman grew it in his garage, and for a favorite childhood confection.³
10. 2022Jealousy, Seed Junky’s Sherbert Bx1 × Gelato 41, is Leafly’s Strain of the Year; Weedmaps dates RS11 (Rainbow Sherbert #11) from Deo Farms and Wizard Trees to the same year.^11,12,13
11. Dec 2022A Silent Seeds and Sherbinskis press release announcing their seed line calls Guzman well known for developing Gelato and “the famous Sunset Sherbert”.¹⁴
12. 2025Montanans buy more Sherbert than any other strain, according to Leafly.²
13. Sep 2026The Marijuana Herald’s state-by-state list puts Sherbert first in Montana again.¹⁵
14. 2017–2024The 768 state lab tests of Sherbet flower in our dataset date from these years.¹⁶

Why it spread

Scarcity and word of mouth. Sherbinski told Leafly there “was not a lot of it” and that he made sure to spread it around to dispensaries and friends; “Rappers were rapping about it.”¹ It arrived with the Cookie Fam’s dessert names, and High Times listed it among them in 2014.⁸

Then it became a parent. Leafly lists it as a parent of Gelato, Jealousy, London Pound Cake, Rainbow Chip and Blue Sherbert, SeedFinder counts 374 direct descendants, and Weedmaps calls the original one of the defining dessert strains of the Cookies era.^{7,10,12,17,18,19,20}

Sunset, and sherbet

Sunset Sherbert is named twice over: for San Francisco’s Sunset District and for a dessert. Sherbinski told Leafly its flavors reminded him of Thrifty ice cream’s rainbow sherbet, and GreenState gives the same two roots.^1,3 Rainbow Sherbet, despite the shared word, is an unrelated Champagne × Blackberry strain.^21,22

The disputed parts of the story

• Accident or plan: Leafly’s genealogy, Weedmaps and Sherbinski himself describe an accidental pollination; Leafly’s strain page says he bred it intentionally.^1,4,7,23
• Where: a flowering room at his grandmother’s house (Leafly’s genealogy, Weedmaps) or his garage in the Sunset District (GreenState, High Times).^1,3,5,7
• Which Cookies: Girl Scout Cookies (Leafly, Weedmaps) or its Thin Mint cut (High Times, SeedFinder).^5,7,20,23
• Pink Panties: Burmese × Larry OG, OG Kush × Burmese Blackberry Kush, or Burmese × a Florida Kush backcross; made from Jigga’s pollen on Sherbinski’s plant, or by the two of them together (see genetics).^1,4,5,6
• Spelling: Sherbinski’s company and Leafly use Sherbert; Weedmaps titles its page Sherbet.^7,23,24