While countless stories have circulated online about Tom Brady’s supposed beer-chugging heroics, the NFL legend has now clarified that not all of them are true. Back in 2010, as Brady and his New England Patriots teammates spent the day after Christmas in Rochester, it led to some impromptu beer-chugging contests. Over time, the story grew into a tale that claimed Brady drank beer out of a shoe that night. But recently, Brady decided to set the record straight on that rumor.

“I didn’t drink any out of a shoe,” Tom Brady said recently on the NFL on Fox show. “That’s a rumor. I won a lot. I lost a few, but I think I gained the respect of all my offensive linemen, going toe to toe, head to head with some of the best beer chuggers on the planet.”

While Brady held his own that night, he now freely admits that when it came to his Patriots teammates, he wasn’t always the best at beer-chugging.

“Yeah, I met my match,” Brady said. “These guys, they’re a lot bigger. They’re a lot tougher. They’re a lot stronger. But I at least had to show my competitive spirit against them.”

Some of Brady’s former Patriots teammates even documented their rare victories over him. In 2018, former Patriots lineman Rich Ohrnberger proudly shared his beer-chugging triumph over Brady on social media.

“I beat …Tom Brady,” Ohrnberger wrote in his X post. “He nodded approvingly, and although I couldn’t hear him say it over the cheers… his lips read “Okay….ok.” He reached across the beer-soaked table top, scattered with wing bones and assorted detritus, and shook my hand. I BEAT TOM BRADY.”

But Brady also earned the admiration of his former Patriots teammates by stepping into the challenge without hesitation. His competitive reputation was further reinforced years later by former Patriots offensive lineman Ross Tucker. In a 2014 article, Tucker vividly recalled Brady’s beer-chugging technique.

“I still have never seen anybody chug a beer faster than Tom Brady,” Tucker wrote. “You should’ve seen the way he slammed down his cup – it was like he was spiking the ball after a TD. It was hilarious and awesome. It was textbook Brady.”

Ultimately, the story isn’t about a party trick as much as it reflects Tom Brady’s relentless competitive drive. That same trait surfaced again in 2018 when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and took part in another beer-chugging challenge. Confident as ever, Brady made his mindset clear beforehand as he said, “I was a pretty good beer chugger.”

During the segment, the NFL legend backed up his words by downing a glass of beer in one gulp, leaving the show’s host, Stephen Colbert, defeated. So, not many people can claim they bested Tom Brady at anything. Yet on one unforgettable night in Rochester, a few Patriots teammates managed to out-chug their quarterback, who was once believed to be unbeatable.

How did Tom Brady end up in a beer-chugging contest with his Patriots teammates?

As the Patriots crushed the Buffalo Bills 34-3 in Week 16 of the 2010 season, it turned out to be a blowout game after Christmas, but the conditions weren’t overly snowy. Yet as the last whistle blew in the game, heavy snowfall around Boston grounded flights, which prevented the Patriots from flying back home. With hotels in Buffalo booked due to the holiday and traveling fans, Tom Brady revealed that the Patriots boarded buses and detoured to Rochester instead.

“Not only do we detour, we head that way,” Tom Brady said recently on the NFL on Fox show. “I don’t remember how long the drive was, at least over an hour, maybe two. And when we got there, everyone was like, ‘Hey, we’re all snowed in. We can’t get home. What should we do for the night?’ Well, there happens to be a Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.”

Back in 2010, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que was a staple restaurant in Rochester that served exactly what Tom Brady and his teammates would have expected on a Sunday night. 

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“Pitchers of beer and chicken wings,” Brady recalled. “So, we had the whole offensive group together, the defensive group together. We had everybody having the time of their life at the Dinosaur Barbecue, celebrating a great win over the Bills.”

Moreover, Brady now reflected on how meaningful that night was for the Patriots. While the Patriots improved to 13–2 with that Week 16 win, what started as a travel inconvenience after the win became a legendary team bonding story – one that still lives on among the Patriots fans.