Canadian Bartender's Last Request: 'Serve My Toes In Whiskey'

Occasionally, people tell you to eat them, and not in an insulting or sultry way. For instance, PRI reports that in 2012, Japanese artist Mao Sugiyama had his man sausage and meatballs surgically removed, "seasoned and braised," and then served to five willing customers for $250 a plate. In other cases, someone might tell you to drink them, which brings us to "Captain Dick" Stevenson. A bartender in Canada's Yukon territory, Captain Dick died in November 2019 at the ripe old age of 89, per the CBC. In fact, he was so ripe he was practically he was fermented. Though, that might be the alcohol talking — specifically, the cocktail that will use his toes as a garnish. 

Most people prefer to keep their toes after kicking the bucket, but Captain Dick Stevenson has a special connection to foot-flavored beverages. The CBC explains that Captain Dick invented the "Sourtoe Cocktail," which contains a mummified toe. It all started back in the 1970s when the bartender bought a cabin, where he discovered "an old pickle jar with a dried-up human toe inside." It allegedly belonged to an old prospector who lost his toe to frostbite.

It stands to reason that when you find an old toe in a pickle jar, you place that toe on a sandwich. But Captain Dick came up the idea of putting it at the bottom of a beer glass full of champagne. Evidently, he hit the toenail on the head because soon people poured into the saloon, happy to foot the bill for what sounds like a liquid health code violation. When a woman in her '80s complained that she didn't mind the toe but couldn't take all that champagne, Captain Dick broadened the options, allowing people to put the toe in any beverage they chose. There was just one rule: "The toe must touch the lips." 

Captain Dick's cocktail grew far more popular than he ever imagined. He expected maybe a dozen people to give it a shot. But desiccated toes must be delicious because more than 93,000 people have had the drink. That might sound like a cheap way to make a buck. But Captain Dick's daughter, Dixie, explained, "He didn't care anything about the money, he just wanted the fame to go on for the rest of history." His severed toes will live on in their mouths when they become part of the Sourtoe Cocktail that made him famous. So just remember that if you stipulate in your will that people have to kiss your booze-soaked feet when you die, you aren't being a massive boner, just a Captain Dick.