DAWSON CITY, Yukon - A donation that an expert in Yukon happily describes as disgusting has arrived in Whitehorse, destined to become the centrepiece of a bizarre cocktail.
The frostbitten big toe of former British Marine Nick Griffiths now belongs to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City after Griffiths donated the digit to the Sourtoe Cocktail collection.
The Bolton, England resident originally planned to donate three toes amputated in March 2018 after he suffered frostbite during the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 483-kilometre race that follows the Yukon Quest trail.
Griffiths was in a Whitehorse hospital when he learned about the Sourtoe Cocktail from a nurse who had visited Dawson City, and he joined the exclusive sourtoe club by drinking a shot of whisky with a mummified human toe in it.
Hotel general manager Adam Gerle says Griffiths's big toe arrived by mail from England last week, well preserved in medical grade alcohol.
It's now being mummified in rock salt in preparation for use in the cocktail, which has been served since 1973.
