The bad news: a severed toe used as a garnish in a famous cocktail served in a Yukon bar has gone missing.

The good news: the bar has two back-ups.

The Sourtoe Cocktail has been served at the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City since 1973, after a captain found a severed digit in an abandoned cabin. Thousands of bar-goers have since touched the toe to their lips while tossing back a shot of whiskey.

But on Saturday night, the toe went missing.

“I said, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ Because a similar situation happened before,” Terry Lee, the hotel’s so-called ‘Toe Captain,’ told CTV News Channel on Thursday.

In 2013, a customer swallowed the big toe on purpose and paid a fine of $500. Last year, another big toe used in the drinks deteriorated after years of use.

The hotel is now down to just two “secondary toes,” Lee said.

“The other ones are smaller, they could become choking hazards,” he explained.

The Sourtoe Cocktail Club -- the official group for more than 100,000 people who’ve drank the cocktail -- has acquired more than 10 toes over the years by donation.

The night the toe disappeared, Lee said he had just finished serving his last Sourtoe Cocktail of the night. The toe was packed away in a closet, where it’s usually kept overnight.

But the bar was still open, and another patron asked to try the drink. So the bartender whipped up the cocktail, got the patron’s signature -- an official step in the toe ceremony -- and watched as the customer drank it down.

That’s when, Lee says, the man announced that he planned to steal the toe.

“And for some reason the bartender turned their back and he actually did steal the toe,” Lee said.

It’s an upsetting loss for the hotel, which has gained notoriety across Canada for the stiff drink. Provincial politicians, celebrities and folks from all walks of life have stopped by to take part in the toe ceremony.

“It’s a very big thing here,” Lee said.

As legend has it, the first toe used in the cocktail belonged to a prohibition-era rum runner named Louie Linken who accidentally soaked his foot in icy water and had to amputate the toe with an axe.

Linken and his brother, Otto, stored the toe in a jar of alcohol until it was found by Captain Dick Stevenson years later.

The first Sourtoe Cocktail was served in a beer glass filled with champagne. But, according to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club website, the drink can now be administered with any beverage, including non-alcoholic drinks.