This week, Love Your City is highlighting the amazing work of Happy Raptor Distilling (@504rum on social media)! A local rum distillery that has definitely gone the extra mile to give back to the New Orleans community while also creating some unique cocktails and distilled rums! Happy Raptor won the Local Culture award in the 2021 Love Your City Awards Gala, and they were also one of our sponsors. They are also one of our current clients!
The New Orleans brewery and distillery scene has been on the rise in recent years. The city currently has around 20 local breweries and now nine local distilleries with the addition of Happy Raptor. Happy Raptor aims to capture the essence of New Orleans’s unique flavors through their work. In October, they launched a Bananas Foster Rum inspired by the Bananas Foster New Orleans tradition. During Mardi Gras this year, they created a King Cake Spiced Rum. All of their cocktails and distilled rums are made of Louisiana molasses (great job at supporting local communities!) and all natural ingredients. Despite taking inspiration from New Orleans sweets, all of their cocktails and rums are also gluten free.
Happy Raptor prides itself on fostering a sense of community in their facility. Happy Raptor offers free events in their venues for all nonprofit organizations, and they have organized fundraisers this way in the past. Last October, Happy Raptor collaborated with the nonprofit Woodlands Conservancy through digital tour and cocktail fundraiser. They are also constantly creating new cocktails and donating some of the proceeds to local organizations. Recently, they have donated proceeds to One Book One New Orleans and on the weekend of June 20, they hosted a pride month art market and cocktail specials where proceeds were donated to House of Tulip. They have collaborated with local food vendors, restaurants, artists, and musicians, allowing them to sell their products and works in their facility on given days.
Happy Raptor definitely embodies our vision of “think global, act local.” They specialize in infusing white rums with citrus, botanicals, and other natural ingredients, a method derived from Caribbean culture. Some of their more intricate rum batches, like the Bananas Foster Rum can take over a month to infuse, distill, and sell. Despite this, Happy Raptor has given Caribbean rum a New Orleans touch, while also supporting the local community.
If you are interested in learning more about Happy Raptor, visit their website or follow @504rum on Facebook and Instagram. If you would like to visit this local distillery, it is located on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Carondelet Street here in New Orleans. We hope you like what they have to offer!
Sources:
https://www.myneworleans.com/happy-raptor-distilling-launches-504bananas-foster-rum/