Food - Drink
The Strange Cocktail That United Thousands In An Exclusive Club
By ELIAS NASH
One of the best parts of traveling around the world is sampling unique food and drink that can only be found in certain areas. One destination that foodies may not think to visit is the remote, frozen region of Yukon, Canada, but a certain bar in this city offers a drinking experience that you simply cannot find anywhere else.
At the Sourdough Saloon, a charming bar that evokes the heyday of Yukon's gold rush, you can order a shot of liquor garnished with a mummified human toe. If you've brave enough to try this cocktail, you can become a member of the exclusive Sourtoe Cocktail Club, but your lips must touch the toe while drinking.
Atlas Obscura says that this tradition was born in 1973, when the frostbitten, amputated toe of 1920's rum-runner Louie Linken was dropped into the drink of a patron. Today, all of Sourdough Saloon's toes are donations, and you'd better not mistakenly swallow one, lest you end up with a $2,000 fine and no Sourtoe membership.