It’s been said many times that we eat with our eyes, and truth be told, we drink with ‘em too. Without a lemon twist or a skewered olive, a Martini just looks like a fancy glass of water. And what’s a Manhattan without a cherry?
Presentation is a fundamental pillar of hospitality, and in recent years, drink garnishes have evolved tenfold. Long gone are the days when maraschino cherries, olives, and citrus twists were considered the only appropriate accouterments in the cocktail realm. But in this era where anything goes, we’ve seen a number of experimental garnishes that go too far.
From the downright impractical to insects and human body parts, here are some of the weirdest cocktail garnishes of all time.
A Human Toe
In Dawson City in Canada’s Yukon Territory, nestled within the Downtown Hotel is Sourdough Saloon, the home of the Sourtoe cocktail. “Cocktail” is kind of an exaggeration, because it’s actually a shot of alcohol containing a dehydrated human toe — yes, an actual human toe.
The story of the Sourtoe dates back to the 1920s when a rumrunner got caught in a blizzard and lost one of his big toes to frostbite. He and his partner in crime preserved the toe in a jar of alcohol to commemorate the event. Fast-forward to the early ‘70s, and a fellow named Captain Dick Stevenson was cleaning out the old cabin he’d just purchased outside Dawson City when he discovered the preserved toe. Stevenson brought the toe to
