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Many Canadians will tell you that the history we learn in school is not particularly interesting, but recently I discovered some unusual stories on the YouTube channel Canadiana that are far more entertaining! For example, have you ever heard of the Sourtoe Cocktail, an alcoholic drink that contains a real human toe? Its origin story was briefly mentioned at the end of the Canadiana episode called “The Invincible Martha Black,” but let me share with you a brief background of this horrible-sounding drink from a CBC article called “The history of the Sourtoe Cocktail: a shot of whiskey garnished with a human toe”:
The Sourtoe Cocktail is practically a rite of passage for visitors to Dawson City, Yukon. It’s a simple drink (a shot of whiskey, usually Yukon Jack) with an unusual accompaniment: a mummified human toe.
How did the Sourtoe cocktail come to be? It all started during prohibition, with a nasty case of frostbite.
In the 1920s, the rum-running Linken brothers - Louie and Otto - got caught in a blizzard. Louie put his foot through a patch of ice and soaked his foot. When the brothers got back to their cabin, Louie’s right foot was frozen solid.
To prevent gangrene, Otto used his axe to chop off Louie’s toe. He placed the toe in a jar of alcohol to commemorate the event.
In 1973, legend has it that Captain Dick Stevenson found the jar (and the toe) in a remote cabin.
He came up with the idea of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club - an exclusive club, with one membership requirement.
In order to gain admittance to the club, potential members must drink the legendary sourtoe cocktail. There’s just one rule: “You can drink it fast. You can drink it slow. But your lips must touch that gnarly toe.”
Thousands of brave people have ventured to Dawson City to try the Sourtoe Cocktail, and a few of them have gotten into trouble for breaking another taboo surrounding this drink. If you swallow the toe, you will have to pay a heavy fine and you will be very unpopular! Want to know what happens when someone swallows the toe? Check out this CBC video called Sourtoe: The Story of the Sorry Cannibal.
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