The Sourtoe Cocktail

The Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition, and is exactly what it sounds like: an actual human toe that has been dehydrated, preserved in salt, and served in a drink.

The tradition was begun in 1973. Some locals decided that visitors could become honorary sourdoughs by downing an alcoholic drink with a severed toe in it. One of them, Dick Stevenson, had bought a cabin just outside Dawson that had belonged to two brothers who ran booze during the Prohibition. On one such dogsled journey during the winter, one of the brothers had his toe frozen and then amputated by the other brother. For whatever reason, they kept the toe preserved in alcohol until it was discovered by Dick Stevenson. By replacing sourdough with sourtoe, visitors could bypass the traditional method of becoming a sourdough which was by surviving the freezing of the Yukon River in September to its break-up in May. The kicker was that the toe must touch the drinker’s lips.


In 1980, a local miner was trying for the sourtoe record. After many glasses, he accidentally tipped his chair backwards and swallowed the toe. It was not recovered, a dread that many contemplating the tradition fear may happen to them. Thanks to the generosity of other amputees there is a healthy reserve of toes should further accidents occur.

For the brave among you, the ritual is played out nightly at Dawson City's Downtown Hotel's bar during the summer months. Initially it was required that the human toe be placed in an alcoholic drink, but times have changed. Nowadays you can enjoy the ritual with a Coke. By having the toe touch your your lips sometime during the process entitles you to membership in the exclusive “Sourtoe Cocktail Club” and one of over 60,000 brothers and sisters.