The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon, has a signature drink that’s known as the Sourtoe Cocktail. Yes, it’s made with a mummified human toe that’s plopped in the glass, and people come from all over to drink it. There just one rule about drinking this libation, though: You can drink it fast or you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe.

Over the last thirty years, a number of toes have been swallowed, either accidentally or on purpose, prompting the bar’s owner to keep a cache of dehydrated toes in a trunk.

But the toe that was stolen last Saturday was special.

“We are furious,” Terry Lee, the hotel’s “toe captain,” said.

Hotel manager Geri Coulbourne agrees, saying he really liked the one that was stolen.

Coulbourne told the CBC that it was donated by a man who had to have it surgically removed, then it was cured in salt for six months.

“This was our new toe, and it was a really good one. We just started using it this weekend,” she said.

The hotel plans to fine the thief $2,500 unless the toe is returned. It’s also offering a reward for anyone with information about the theft.

A brief, but absolutely fascinating, history of the toe and the cocktail and the bar, below.

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