It’s been said many times that we eat with our eyes, and truth be told, we drink with ‘em too. Without a lemon twist or a skewered olive, a Martini just looks like a fancy glass of water. And what’s a Manhattan without a cherry?
Presentation is a fundamental pillar of hospitality, and in recent years, drink garnishes have evolved tenfold. Long gone are the days when maraschino cherries, olives, and citrus twists were considered the only appropriate accouterments in the cocktail realm. But in this era where anything goes, we’ve seen a number of experimental garnishes that go too far.
From the downright impractical to insects and human body parts, here are some of the weirdest cocktail garnishes of all time.
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A Human Toe
In Dawson City in Canada’s Yukon Territory, nestled within the Downtown Hotel is Sourdough Saloon, the home of the Sourtoe cocktail. “Cocktail” is kind of an exaggeration, because it’s actually a shot of alcohol containing a dehydrated human toe — yes, an actual human toe.
The story of the Sourtoe dates back to the 1920s when a rumrunner got caught in a blizzard and lost one of his big toes to frostbite. He and his partner in crime preserved the toe in a jar of alcohol to commemorate the event. Fast-forward to the early ‘70s, and a fellow named Captain Dick Stevenson was cleaning out the old cabin he’d just purchased outside Dawson City when he discovered the preserved toe. Stevenson brought the toe to the Sourdough Saloon and pitched the idea of the Sourtoe cocktail, and a tradition was born.
The original toe has unfortunately gone missing since the drink’s inception, but the Sourdough Saloon has acquired a number of backups via donation. Anyone who chooses to imbibe the Sourtoe cocktail is prohibited from actually ingesting the toe, but it must touch their lips in order for them to be inducted into the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, which has over 100,000 members to date.
A Black Ant Salt Rim
Within the faux Aztec temple at EPCOT’s Mexico Pavilion is a tequila bar called La Cava del Tequila. The bar boasts a menu of over 200 tequilas and a range of agave-fueled cocktails including La Cava Top Shelf. The spec includes Centinela añejo tequila, Alma Finca orange liqueur, rosé, Abasolo corn whiskey, lime juice, and yes, a black ant salt rim. Admittedly, chicatana ants have long been an Oaxacan delicacy, often served as a topping or ground into salsas and sauces. Using them as a cocktail garnish, though, is a fresh idea.
Cicada Husk
In Spring 2024, both 17-year-old and 13-year-old cicada broods emerged from Midwestern U.S. soil simultaneously. The event, which many dubbed “cicadageddon,” only occurs once every 17 years, and the staff at Chicago’s Noon Whistle Brewing decided to make the most of it by freezing, sterilizing, and cooking locally sourced cicadas before submerging them in bottles of Jeppson’s Malört. “Believe it or not, the 17-year old virgin cicadas bring a flavor reminiscent of succulent lobster to this insanely delicious concoction,” the brewery wrote in an Instagram post.
The brewery took the diabolical shot a step further by encouraging customers to bring in their own cicada husks to drop in the infused shot for “even more of that unique flavor.” In the brewery’s defense, cicadas are surprisingly high in protein.
A Rubber Duckie
Since its opening in Tokyo in 2007, Bar Orchard has developed a reputation as one of the best cocktail bars in Japan. Owners Miyanohara Takuo and his wife, Sumire, have a strong focus on fresh fruit that permeates their bar program, and whimsical presentation reigns supreme. One cocktail arrives in a tiny red trash bin, and another shows up inside a disco ball. But the most playful of the bunch is the strawberry-infused cocktail, served in a miniature ceramic bathtub and garnished with edible foam and a lil’ rubber duckie.
A Grilled Octopus Tentacle
The Bloody Mary has seen more wild garnishes than most cocktails, from bacon strips and pickle spears to full-on skewered cheeseburgers. And while it’s no longer on the menu at any of Great Maple’s California locations, the Bloody’s boundaries were pushed with the One Armed Mary. The vodka-based concoction featured a grilled octopus tentacle reaching out from the murky, red depths of a Collins glass and over the rim. When the booze in your next hair-of-the-dog cocktail simply isn’t enough to help you shake off your hangover, maybe a tentacle ought to do the trick.
An Oversized Tortilla
Restaurant group Barton G’s website navigates like a cocaine-fueled fever dream, and the menu at its Los Angeles location of the same name marches to a similar beat with $225 four-foot-tall ice cream cones, a $165 lobster mac and cheese, and lobster pop tarts — whatever the hell those are. The cocktails are slightly less chaotic, save for La Playa-Rita. It’s Barton G’s house Marg, and it’s made with reposado tequila, lime juice, muddled jalapeño, basil leaves, and raspberries. And the garnish? A huge, crispy tortilla resting on top of a goblet-esque glass, pierced with a straw. We love a garnish that doubles as a snack, but it’s also nice to take in a cocktail’s aromatics before diving in for a sip.
A Caviar-Topped Mannequin Hand
OK, so it’s not technically a garnish, but come on — it’s a mannequin hand. In early 2022, Takuma Wantanabe (former head bartender of NYC’s Angel’s Share) opened Martiny’s in a carriage house in Manhattan’s Gramercy neighborhood. The most eye-catching menu item there is, without a doubt, its mini Martini. The Martini itself, a blend of Boodles Gin and dry vermouth, is delicious but nothing out of the ordinary. But on the side, a bump of the caviar atop a wooden fist.
Wantanabe actually isn’t the first to work mannequin hands into a meal: Chef Grant Achatz offered one at his restaurant NEXT in Chicago a few years prior, and Jackson, Miss., fine-dining restaurant Southern Soigne had one on its menu once, too. Regardless, our condolences go out to whoever has to clean dozens of mini hands at the end of the night.
A ‘Bloody’ Toy Shark
Depending on whom you ask, The Aussie Jawssie at Outback Steakhouse is either pure genius or pure kitsch. Hell, maybe it’s a little bit of both. The drink’s build consists of New Amsterdam Raspberry Vodka, blue Curaçao, and “a trio of citrus juices.” It’s finally garnished with a toy shark with a mouthful of grenadine, and customers are encouraged to empty out the syrupy red liquid into the drink to create the visual effect of blood gushing into the blue. The drink debuted in late April 2023 as a seasonal summer offering and returned in 2024.
