Yahoo Finance The Australian Drinking Tradition That Involves A Shoe
There is no shortage of drinking traditions around the world, from saying cheers (or its equivalent in different languages) and clinking glasses before taking a drink to drinking green beer for St. Patrick's Day (in the US at least). But one of the more unusual drinking traditions comes from Australia, involves a shoe, and is called, not surprisingly, a shoey.
A shoey involves drinking a beverage, typically alcoholic and typically quickly in one go, out of a shoe. The shoe could be yours or it could be someone else's. And the beverage could be anything alcoholic, though it's most commonly beer or, in some circles, champagne. It's not settled when or how this drinking tradition became so popular in Australia, though there are a few theories.
Some credit twin brothers and surfers Dean and Shaun Harrington (and founders of the surf brand The Mad Hueys), who were doing shoeys with beer in 2002, with popularizing the trend, while others say it was Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who started his own tradition of celebratory shoeys with champagne on the podium in 2016. The term shoey has been an entry in the Urban Dictionary since 2010 (per ANU Reporter).
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A Growing Trend
Shoeys have been become so popular in racing circles that Formula One even trademarked the term "shoey" in 2017 for "flasks, glasses, bottles, mugs, sculptures, and figurines," notes The Independent (though not for clothing as that trademark was already owned by a relative of the Harringtons of The Mad Hueys fame). During the recent Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, MGM Resorts even offered a Shoey Bar, which served cocktails from MGM-branded driving shoes.
Nor are shoeys limited to just Formula 1 and racing. It's made appearances in other sports as well, across disciplines as diverse as cricket, golf, running, and MMA. It's also big in music circles. What was once a staple of the Australian punk music scene has now gone mainstream, with a growing list of famous musicians that have done a shoey (usually in response to crowd requests at a show in Australia) that now includes Post Malone (who does one regularly during his Australian shows), Machine Gun Kelly, Luke Bryan, Maisie Peters, Kasey Musgraves (who drank tequila out of a glass slipper), and Stormzy. Harry Styles, who finally did a shoey during a show in Perth, after refusing to do one at several earlier shows, called it "one of the most disgusting traditions I've ever heard of" (via the BBC). A shoey may not be for everybody, but it sure makes for some interesting footage (pun intended).
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
