Over the years, we've posted about (but sadly never had the opportunity to try) the Sourtoe Cocktail, the infamous drink containing preserved human toes that's served at the Downtown Hotel in Canada's Yukon territory. Now we must report that "Captain" Dick Stevenson, the bartender who first served the Sourtoe Cocktail, has died at age of 89. It turns out though that Stevenson, truly a generous soul, had bequeathed all ten of his toes to the bar for future use in the curious cocktail. From The Guardian:

“Dad is a publicity hound and he just said he was going to be more famous after he’s dead,” Dixie Stevenson told the Canadian Press as she prepared to take her father’s ashes – and toes – to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, where the infamous drink was first served.

The drink consists of a mummified human toe at the bottom of a whiskey shot, and patrons at the hotel must let the tip of the toe touch their lips in order to qualify as having successfully consumed the cocktail.

While Stevenson initially believed no more than a few people would try his concoction, the Sourtoe Cocktail Club now has nearly 100,000 inductees.

A toe-shaped urn, containing Stevenson’s ashes, will go on display at the hotel.

Previously:

• Man mails amputated toes to saloon for use in their Sourtoe Cocktail

• Human toe used in "sourtoe cocktail" stolen from Canadian bar Read the rest

Nick Griffiths suffered from frostbite while running in the Yukon Arctic ultra-marathon. After surgeons amputated three of his toes, he mailed two of them to Dawson City in the region where the Downtown Hotel's Sourdough Saloon uses (and reuses) disembodied digits in their infamous Sourtoe Cocktail that's been on the menu for forty years. From The Guardian:

The beverage consists of a mummified human toe floating in a whiskey shot; patrons must let the digit – or its blackened nail – touch their lips in order to receive a certificate and qualify for admittance to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club.

He kept one of the toes as “insurance” because, (Griffiths) said: “I’m not sure really you should be posting toes.

More than a month later, the toes arrived in Dawson City. “We couldn’t be happier to receive a new toe. They are very hard to come by these days,” said the hotel in a statement.

Terry Lee, the hotel’s “toe expert” will now preserve the digits in rock salt for at least six weeks before they are served in whiskey.

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Photographer Amy Lombard teamed up with nail artist Sonya Meesh to create toenail art that you won't be able to unsee. Whether that's good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. Read the rest