A British adventurer who lost three toes to frostbite competing in an Arctic ultramarathon is donating the digits to be served in cocktails at a Canadian bar.
The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon, is famed for its Sourtoe cocktail - a shot of whiskey topped with a dehydrated human toe, which the drinker’s lips “must touch”, according to bar rules.
Although the same toe is used over and over again for the cocktail, which costs just $5 (£3.55), some drinkers have accidentally swallowed digits since the tradition began in the 1970s - leaving the bar’s owners looking for replacements.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That's where Briton Nick Griffiths comes in. The former Royal Marine lost his toes to severe frostbite in February after competing in the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 300-mile ultramarathon in Canada that follows the Yukon Quest Trail. This year participants faced temperatures as low as -54C, The Independent reports.
Griffiths was unable to complete the challenge after suffering fourth-degree burns on his left foot. While receiving emergency treatment in hospital, a nurse told him about the the Downtown’s unique beverage.
Griffiths asked doctors who amputated his toes in the UK to let him keep them, and now plans to send them to the Downtown. “The only problem is, I’m not sure you can just send amputated toes through the post,” he told The Times.
He intends to visit the bar order to try the drink himself.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.