Worm in your tequila shot? Canada's Dawson City has that beat with the 'Sourtoe'

“You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch this gnarly toe.”

These were the last words James “Jazz” Byers, 55, of Penn Hills heard before raising a shot of Yukon Jack to his lips. As he knocked the drink back, at the bottom of the glass, pointing directly at him, was a dehydrated toe.

Yes, a real, human toe.

Rather than panicking at the loose body part in his glass, Byers welcomed the sight, wanting to become a member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club.

Club history

The club is a time-honored tradition in Canada’s Yukon territory, dating back to 1973 when Captain Dick Stevenson found a jar of alcohol containing a toe in a remote cabin — or so the story goes.

The accuracy of the story is debatable, with the club’s background a mix of folklore and history.

According to the Downtown Hotel’s Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City (population 2,380), which hosts the tradition, the first “sourtoe” dates back to the 1920s and features a rum-runner named Louie Linken and his brother, Otto.

During one of their cross-border deliveries, they ran into a blizzard. In an effort to help direct his dog team, Linken stepped off the sled and into some icy water, soaking his foot.

Fearing that the police were on their trail, the pair continued on their journey. Unfortunately, the prolonged exposure to the cold caused Linken’s big toe to freeze solid. To prevent gangrene, Otto amputated it using a woodcutting axe and some over-proof rum for anesthesia.

To commemorate this moment, the brothers preserved the toe in a jar of alcohol.

After finding the toe, Stevenson came up with the idea of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, an exclusive club with one membership requirement: Potential members must drink the sourtoe cocktail — after paying $17 for it.

Locals make the trek

Byers was deemed the 126,630th member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club.

“I got a certificate to prove it,” he said.

But he didn’t make the journey alone. Byers learned about the shot while on a trip to the Arctic and, in the spirit of finding the best party story, quickly began inviting people to accompany him.

Of the 17 people Byers asked, his friends Sean Nestor, 54, of Churchill and Vince Sylvester, 47, of Colorado joined the adventure. Nestor, who has known Byers since their teen years, is well-acquainted with Byers’ out-of-the-ordinary invitations.

Sylvester said he didn’t hesitate when Byers asked him to meet in Fairbanks, Alaska, to drive eight hours to Dawson City.

Finding a kindred spirit, Sylvester has participated in his fair share of adventures with Byers after the two met in 2007 while he was living in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood. After Sylvester relocated to Colorado in 2014, the two stayed in touch and have taken trips together over the years.

“We both have a similar philosophy,” Sylvester said. “Life is all about the experiences you’re able to take away from it.”

Sylvester previously worked for the National Park Service and spent two seasons working for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve just north of Dawson City.

“It was fun to go back to a lot of those places that I had spent time in and kind of share that with Jazz and Sean,” Sylvester said.

Nestor said he remembers the one and only moment he felt nervous about the drink was when he heard from a group of locals in the nearby town of Chicken, Alaska (population 12 to 17), that the alcohol in the shot has to be Yukon Jack.

“The only moment or part of trepidation that came for the three of us at the same time, when we were informed the shot had changed,” Nestor said. “We were informed that the website had not been updated and it was mandatory that we do Yukon Jack.”

Sylvester agreed. He was more worried about the whiskey than the toe.

“In my opinion, it’s one of the most rot-gut, worst whiskey you could possibly drink, so I was definitely more trepidatious about drinking the actual whiskey than the toe,” Sylvester said. “I was afraid I would take the shot and make a face. … I didn’t want to look like I was disgusted by the toe.”

When the time came, Nestor stepped up to the plate first. He wanted to get it over with.

He was sworn in as the 126,628th member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. Sylvester became its 126,629th.

Byers said it felt like ages before the toe slid down the side of the glass and hit his lips, giving him the next membership.

“The worst part of the drink was the (Yukon) Jack,” Byers said. “It was too sweet for me.”

Terry Lee, the saloon’s official “Toe Master,” previously told Mel Magazine the shot is usually Yukon Jack, but anything will work so long as it’s at least 80 proof.

It also can’t have any flavoring, ice or anything else in it because it could affect the purity of the toe, which is intended to last for years at a time.

Eventually, the toes do wear out — when they start to fall apart, they’re retired and Lee cremates them.

According to the saloon, there have been 25 toes donated for the tradition in the club’s history. The club rotates two toes for shots each night between 6 and 10 p.m., Byers said.

A donated toe is dehydrated in salt and soaked for a year in alcohol before being included in the rotation.

Byers said the most surprising thing about the experience was the variety of people the club attracts.

“There were people from all walks of life, all demographics, there to take this shot,” Byers said. “A mother and daughter did it together, an elderly woman did it, there were young guys, old guys.”

He said he saw about 40 people do the shot while he and his friends were at the saloon.

In addition to the toe touching a drinker’s lips, membership is granted if the drinker bites, sucks or holds the toe in their mouth.

The second rule of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club? Never swallow the toe.

That offense is accompanied by a $2,500 fine and a dose of public shame.

The fine used to be $500 until in 2013, when a man swallowed the toe on purpose. He slapped $500 on the table and was promptly run out of town, but came back, making a public apology to the residents of Dawson City, according to club folklore.

In 2017, operations were slowed when someone stole the toe for bragging rights.

For Nestor, Byers and Sylvester, the rest of their trip included a chartered flight over Denali — aka Mt. McKinley — a casino visit featuring can-can dancers, a golden retriever who doubles as a regular at a local pub and completing the impressive feat of getting kicked out of a Yukon bar for dozing off on a stool.

Pennsylvania possibilities

It’s unclear what, if any, punishment would be administered if a Pennsylvania bar set up a similar process and openly used toes as garnishes.

“While there’s nothing in the Liquor Code that prohibits licensees from offering cocktails with various ingredients and garnishes, so long as the ingredients are not illegal or banned substances, licensees are subject to health license requirements governed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and local health departments,” Elizabeth Brassell, director of policy and communications of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, said in a statement.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture declined to comment about the legality of serving drinks with body parts as garnishes in the state.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Model Food Code does not explicitly mention selling food products containing human body parts.

While Pennsylvania laws prohibit the “adulteration” of food, drinks are not mentioned.

But the consumption of adulterated foods can result in a medley of health complications, according to the Pennsylvania Food Code.

Thankfully, the only things Byers, Sylvester and Nestor got from the experience were a certificate and one heck of a party story.

“None of us have suffered any adverse effects so far,” Byers said.