'Trashed' raccoon found boozed out shoots to fame, inspiring cocktails, T-shirts and SNL

A raccoon that was found sprawled on the bathroom floor after a drunken soiree through a Virginia liquor store now has three cocktails named after it. The incident happened on November 29, when the creature busted into the shop, opened several bottles of alcohol and drank them. It was found plopped face down in the bathroom at a Virginia ABC in Ashland, Hanover County. The Hanover Animal Protection and Shelter labelled the raccoon "trashed panda", and its picture instantly went viral, triggering hilarious reactions on social media. Virginia ABC latched onto the trend to gain fame riding on the drunk raccoon. It has come out with three cocktails - Rye Rascal Sour, Trash Panda Old Fashioned, and Midnight Gin Fizz.

The Virginia ABC website carries all three drinks, each of them in the hands of a raccoon. The drinks are inspired by the "trashed panda", and come with two ounces of each spirit and a few other things. While there is maple syrup in the Rye Rascal Sour, the Trash Panda Old Fashioned contains sugar syrup. The store also released a full video of the raccoon inside the store, poking at the bottles and guzzling them down, seen in the surveillance footage obtained by WRIC. A rescue team reached the store and caught the intruder, later releasing him into the wilderness.

Also Read: A raccoon’s wild night out as he breaks into liquor store and then passes out in the bathroom

Drunk raccoon becomes famous

The raccoon is now being used as a marketing tool. On December 5, the 92nd anniversary of when Prohibition ended, Spirited Virginia shared an image of a raccoon at a bar with a large bottle of bourbon. A T-shirt campaign has also been launched, reading “Trashed Panda” with a photo of a drunk raccoon and shattered wine bottles. The raccoon also reached Saturday Night Live, where Sarah Sherman impersonated the drunk animal. Sherman wore a furry raccoon costume and held an alcohol bottle in her hand, stumbling and knocking over.

Raccoon was released into the wild

Hanover County officials posted a hilarious update about the raccoon on Facebook. "After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer."