To Drink This Rare Cocktail, Your Lips Must Touch A Scary Ingredient

Picture this: you're at the Downtown Hotel's Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City, Yukon, about to down a shot that could make even the toughest drinkers recoil in disgust. This isn't just any old cocktail — it's the infamous Sourtoe Cocktail, which comes with an actual preserved human toe at the bottom of your glass. Yes, you read that correctly — a real toe. It might seem easy enough — just take the smallest sip then brag about your brush with cannibalism. However, to declare yourself a member of the exclusive Sourtoe Cocktail Club, you have to actually let the shriveled toe touch your lips.

Before you lose your lunch, you should first learn the legend behind this infamous cocktail. Back in the 1920s, two bootlegging brothers braved some seriously harsh winter conditions to run liquor up to Alaska. One of them, Louie Liken, ended up with a frozen toe after crossing some thin ice. To save his life, his brother Otto had to chop off the toe and preserve it in overproof rum. 

In 1973, when a local named Dick Stevenson discovered the toe in the brothers' abandoned cabin, he was struck with a brilliant, yet strangely gross, idea. Stevenson created a club where the sole entry requirement was that you had to have the grit to sip a drink that was infused with a human toe. And, thus, a Yukon tradition was born.

Should you decide to embark on the grotesque mission to join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, here's what you should expect. When you sit down, you'll be greeted by the "Toe Captain." With a pair of tongs, he'll present the mummified toe to you as a sommelier would a rare bottle of wine before ceremoniously plopping it into your glass. Whether you get it over with quickly or savor the experience is entirely up to you — the only criteria to join the club is that your lips must brush the toe.

Of course, no one actually follows through, right? Wrong. There are over 95,000 members in the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, a bizarre challenge that has brought in people from all over the world from Mongolia to all 50 states. The only rule you have to follow is: do not, under any circumstances, swallow the toe. If you do, you'll be facing a hefty $2,500 fine. And yes, people have done this.

While the original toe is long gone, don't worry. You can still join the club by having a drink with the various toes donated by everyone from frostbitten adventurers to lawnmower accident survivors to all 10 toes from the late inventor of the cocktail, Dick Stevenson. For some, it's a badge of honor; for others, it's a flirtation with the morbid. But for all, it's a taste of Yukon history. So, er, bottoms up?