Give 'till it hurts
April 6, 2018 12:09 PM   Subscribe

In February, Nick Griffiths suffered severe frostbite while competing in the Yukon Arctic Ultra race (temperatures dropped as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius during the race, forcing many competitors to stop). On Wednesday of this week, he had to have his toes amputated. In order to secure backup toes, Dawson City's Downtown Hotel has offered to take delivery of the detached digits for use in its notorious sourtoe cocktail (previously, previously, and previously).
posted by mandolin conspiracy (25 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
God bless the Yukon and all the weirdos who inhabit it.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:11 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]


Be the toe captain you want to see in the world.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:14 PM on April 6, 2018


Oh dear. Is that cocktail, like, sanitary?
posted by holborne at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm pretty sure that frostbitten toes are black and nasty looking by the time they amputate them, though.
posted by tavella at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius

That's even as bad as minus 40 in Fahrenheit
posted by thelonius at 12:19 PM on April 6, 2018 [21 favorites]


I'm pretty sure that frostbitten toes are black and nasty looking by the time they amputate them, though.

Yeah, that seems to make them perfect candidates for the sourtoe cocktail. They come pre-blackened and pre-shrivelled.

So...win-win?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:20 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


oh my god.




(they could get 10 toes from the Italian guy who had both his feet and a hand amputated.)


oh my god.
posted by vespabelle at 12:22 PM on April 6, 2018


I wonder how far you could take this. Go with the whole hand from the Italian guy that vespabelle mentioned, make a cocktail called "The Hand of Glory". Make a drink with a whole arm and a leg in it and call it the "*How* Much Does This Cost?". Move up to pickling an entire corpse, call it the "My Brother Is In Medical School".

(Thank you, folks. Try the veal...which is garnished with toes.)
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:28 PM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]


Oh dear. Is that cocktail, like, sanitary?

Well, it's traditional to drop it in a shot of Yukon Jack, which is 40% alcohol and made with honey. That probably makes one of the more antiseptic beverages?
posted by elsietheeel at 12:28 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


NOPE.
posted by spindrifter at 12:31 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]


Be the toe captain you want to see in the world.

Toe Captain, My Captain!



Of course, we would also have accepted: You want a toe? I can get you a toe. Believe me. There are ways, Dude, you don't wanna know about them. Believe me. Hell I can get you a toe by three o'clock this afternoon. With nail polish."
posted by Naberius at 12:46 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


“I know what you're thinking. Did he lose six toes or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is sourtoe cocktail, the most powerful beverage in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?”
posted by parki at 1:49 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]


That's even as bad as minus 40 in Fahrenheit

I knew I should posted that in Kelvin.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:03 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


There are strange things done in the midnight sun
To the men who lose their toes
For there are those who think to invent a drink
That those south of there'll find gross
posted by mochapickle at 4:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]


"You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me."
posted by jv776 at 4:52 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


(Shit I totally missed that someone else already referenced that quote. Oops)
posted by jv776 at 5:04 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


you know what i think? i think mr bobbitt missed a chance at immortality in the field of mixology
posted by pyramid termite at 6:27 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]


:-(
posted by allthinky at 6:39 PM on April 6, 2018


Am I alone in feeling like I would have the toe drink? I would have the toe drink. It almost makes me want to move there if it weren’t so damn cold.
posted by invitapriore at 7:25 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


But invitapriore, well he cried out, "More!
That toe drink ain't no biggie."
And he went to town, drank that toe drink down,
To the last little black-tinged piggy.
posted by mochapickle at 8:13 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]


Dawson City is great. Last time I was there was Labour Day in 2009. It has this weird timeless feel because there are gravel roads and wooden walkways instead of the usual concrete and asphalt you see most everywhere*. The bank where Robert Service used to work was still standing (although it was vacant)

The people I know there are colourful at best and outright asshole cranks at worst. I went on very short notice and didn’t have much time to prepare, so I wasn’t sure how I would get from the airport into Dawson proper. No transit in a place that small, so it turned I had to call a taxi. No, the taxi. There was (at least then) exactly one taxi to be found north of Whitehorse, although really it prefigured Uber. The taxi was an ‘89 Buick LeSabre driven by a guy named Lance. You called his cell and he came around eventually to collect you**.

*My fave trivia is that they paved their first road on Labour Day 2009. I watched the machines at work, along with about half the city.

**My contacts in Dawson tell me Lance moved back south a few years ago. Dunno what they do now, but if invitapriore is looking for a good reason to relocate, I may have a lead on a job.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:40 AM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


That's even as bad as minus 40 in Fahrenheit

I knew I should posted that in Kelvin.


Minus 40 Kelvin? That's cold.
posted by flabdablet at 3:47 AM on April 7, 2018


Invitapore, I also would have the toe drink. It doesn't sound like it's actually dangerous, just conceptually gross. And it would make a great story to tell back home, so definitely worth it. Will certainly get one should I ever find myself in Dawson City.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:55 AM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


Minus 40 Kelvin? That's cold.

It could also be called hotter than INFINITY!
posted by wotsac at 7:04 AM on April 7, 2018


I grew up consuming a cocktail made from the flesh and blood of a 2000 year old dead dude. A pickled toe is no big deal.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 12:17 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]


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