(CNN) — The inventor of the curious “Sourtoe cocktail,” which has been served in Canada’s Yukon territory since the 1970s, has died. Dick Stevenson was 89.
Served at Dawson City’s Downtown Hotel, the Sourtoe is a drink with a stomach-churning twist: a mummified human toe is dropped into the shot glass.
The drink was invented by Stevenson in 1973 after he discovered a preserved, amputated toe in an abandoned cabin.
To join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, the drinker’s lips must touch the toe. The club’s slogan: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe.”
The club — which has over 100,000 members — now is in possession of more than 10 toes as admirers from around the world offered toes to Stevenson’s cause. Recently, the Downtown Hotel received the big toe of Nick Griffiths, a former British Marine who lost his toe to frostbite during a winter ultra-marathon in 2018.
At the time of the donation, Griffiths said he hoped to return to the Yukon “to do the Sourtoe Cocktail with his own toe,” the hotel said.
Stevenson “The Downtown would like to pass on our condolences for Captain Dick Stevenson, the founder of the Sourtoe Cocktail,” the Downtown Hotel said in a statement online.
The official Twitter account of Dawson City also paid tribute to Stevenson’s legacy: “Captain Dick was a true colourful five-percenter who changed Dawson’s brand. His legacy is cemented with the Sourtoe Cocktail, but we’ll always remember him for his undying love of Dawson City. Thanks for everything Dick, we’ll toest one for you tonight.”
“Colourful Five Percent” is a Yukon term for eccentric personalities.
The-CNN-Wire
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