Petrified human toes have touched the lips of some 52,000 patrons at the Downtown Hotel in the Yukon Territory’s Dawson City, Canada.
The Sourtoe Cocktail was born in 1973 when Captain Dick Stevenson found a severed toe in a cabin and used it to garnished his champagne. Now, the drink is served with any liquor of choice—as long as it is 40 percent or above—and a petrified human toe.
To earn a membership card to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, patrons must touch their lips to the toe. The club’s website states: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow–But the lips have gotta touch the toe.”
An American patron who had earned membership the night before took it a step further and intentionally swallowed the toe on Saturday night, the Globe and Mail reported.
The bar usually has at least two toes on hand—donated by people who have lost toes by accident or illness. Some have even donated their toes to the bar in their wills.
Nonetheless, the toes aren’t so easy to come by, and now the bar is left with only one. Swallowing the toe carries a fine of $500, which the bar owners have now raised to $2,500, according to the Globe and Mail.
Terry Lee, the bar’s “Toe Captain,” told the Globe and Mail: “He just wanted bragging rights, that’s what he wanted.”
The man downed the drink, toe and all, put his money on the table, and walked out.
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