EPISODE 33March 30, 2023

The Sourtoe Cocktail

"You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but the lips have got to touch the toe." So goes the prime directive of the Exalted Order of the Sourtoe, a cocktail club dreamed up in the 1970s to celebrate Discovery Day in Dawson City. Essentially a shot of liquor garnished with a preserved, severed human toe, the Sourtoe Cocktail is one of Canada's most legendary (and disturbing) traditions that has been served to over 100,000 curious drinkers in a Dawson City bar. This is its story.

Sources

“It’s Toes Up! In the Yukon.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 November 1987, p 104.

 

“Laureates of the Sourtoe.” Dayton Daily News. 25 January 1985, p 1.

 

“Alaskans in a pickle, need one large toe.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 28 August 1980, p 7A.

 

“Captain Dick Stevenson, inventor of Yukon’s infamous ‘Sourtoe Cocktail,’ has died.” CBC News. 14 November 2019. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/captain-dick-stevenson-sourtoe-obituary-1.5359630

 

Sourtoe: The Story of the Sorry Cannibal. 2016. Dir. Daniel Roher.

 

Scott, Tom. “The sourtoe cocktail has a human toe in it.” YouTube, Tom Scott. 9 July 2018.

 

The Planet D. “THE SOURTOE COCKTAIL – DAWSON CITY’S DEAD TOE COCKTAIL.” 3 March 2021, accessed February 2023. https://theplanetd.com/sour-toe-cocktail-dawson-city

 

Bell, Dennis. “‘Klondike still has claim to motherlode of characters.” Red Deer Advocate. 12 August 1972, p 8.

 

Bell, Dennis. “‘Yukon Sourtoe’ introduced as new after-dinner drink.” North Bay Nugget. 29 September 1973, p 11.

 

Clark, Jayne. “These folks don’t shrink at finding a doe in their drink.” Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN. 20 July 1992, pp 1, 17

 

Clark, Jayne. “Sourtoe Cocktail.” Chicago Tribune. 6 September 1992, pp 229

 

Davies, Jim. “Profit schemes crazier than…’wild rocks’” Edmonton Journal. 4 April 1977, p 19.

 

Hancock, Lyn. “Becoming a Yukon Sour Toe.” Whitehorse Daily Star. 26 September 1973, p 13, 15

 

Holloway, Sam. “Captain Dick and the Sourtoe Cocktail.” Whitehorse Daily Star. 20 September 2019, p A21.

 

Hopper, Tristin. “Yukon devastated by loss of ‘sourtoe’.” National Post. Toronto, 28 August 2013, p A2.

 

Kuitkenbrouwer, Peter. “Going to to toe with tradition.” National Post, Toronto. 4 March 2014, p 9.

 

Lees, Nick. “Desth, where is thy King?” Edmonton Journal. 23 September 1984, p 11.

 

Wade, Tony. “‘Sourtoe Cocktail’…5 Freshly-severed Toes, by Capt Dick!” YouTube, Tony Wade. 31 January 2011.

 

Wolfe, Susan. “But Who Is it?” Whitehorse Daily Star. 19 September 1975, p 1.

 

Yukon RCMP Media Relations. “Dawson City toe theft solved.” Royal Canadian Mounted Police – rcmp-grc-gc.ca. 22 June 2017.

 

Young, Gerard. “Whatever you do, don’t swallow that dried Sourtoe toe!” Whitehorse Daily Star. 11 October 1989, p 4.