Matt and Friends Drink the Universe

Matt and Friends Drink The Universe
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Comedy
  • Updated Bimonthly

Welcome to Matt and Friends Drink the Universe,  the comedy podcast where great drinks meet great stories. Join host Matt and a rotating crew of friends as they share laughs, taste unique craft beers, cocktails, wines, and spirits, and dive into the stories, history, and science behind every sip. Every episode brings something different — from fan-favorite Stellar Sips (the drinks we love) to those dreaded Cosmic Chugs (the ones that crash and burn). You’ll also find a mix of fun episode themes like Alcohology, Think or Drink Trivia, Rocket Rankings, Bar Chats, and How Did We Get Beer? to keep every listen fresh and entertaining. Packed with hilarious banter, fun facts, and plenty of libation inspiration, this show is perfect for anyone who enjoys discovering new flavors while kicking back with great company. So grab your favorite drink, relax, and join us as we drink our way through the universe — one unforgettable pour at a time. Cheers!

  1. 5d ago

    Three Fall Cocktails You Must Try!

    Send us a message! Your fall cocktail menu doesn’t need a dozen syrups or a full bar cart, it needs three smart builds and a couple of solid techniques. Our boozy starships Head of Cocktail Engineering Josh joins Matt to roll out a trio of autumn drinks that cover the whole range: bold and boozy, bright and foamy, and light enough to pour before dinner. First up is a Spiced Pear Old Fashioned made with 100-proof bourbon, St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur, and a bitters combo that keeps the pear from turning cloying. We also talk presentation that actually matters, including how a flamed orange peel adds real aroma and a clean citrus snap. It’s a strong sipping cocktail for crisp nights, porch hangs, and anyone who loves an old fashioned with fall flavor. Then we shift to the Blood Moon Rising, a blood orange cocktail built with orange rum, allspice dram, and a silky egg white foam created with a dry shake. If raw egg makes you hesitate, we get practical about it: what the risk really looks like, when to skip it, and the bartender-friendly alternative (Fee Foam) that gets you that same velvety texture.  We close with an Apple Cider Martini featuring applejack, apple cider, and ginger liqueur, basically trick-or-treat night energy in a glass without going heavy. If you try one of these fall cocktails, share it with a friend, then subscribe, leave a review, and tell us which drink you’re making first. 1Spiced Pear Old Fashioned ("The Headless Pearman") 2 oz 100-proof bourbon1 oz St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur2 dashes Angostura bitters2 dashes Fee Brothers old-fashioned bittersStir with ice in a mixing glass, strain over a large cube. Garnish with a flamed (warmed) orange peel, spritzing the oils through the flame. Blood Moon Rising 2 oz Don Q Naranja (orange) rum¾ oz allspice dram1¾ oz fresh-squeezed blood orange juice¼ oz lime juice1 egg whiteDry shake (no ice) to foam the egg white, then add ice and shake hard again. Double strain over a large ice cube into a rocks glass. Garnish with a dried blood orange slice (thin slices baked at about 185°F on convection for roughly 3 hours, turned every 30 minutes). An orange slice or cinnamon stick also works. Egg white alternative: Fee Foam, ½ oz in place of the egg white, or omit it entirely with the same other ingredients. Apple Cider Martini 2 oz Laird's applejack2 oz apple cider (cold-pressed preferred; spiced cider is fine)1 oz Barrow's Intense ginger liqueurShake, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an apple slice, orange peel, or cinnamon stick (or Halloween candy). Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Three Fall Cocktails You Must Try!

  2. Sep 1

    Tasting Budget Beer and Picking a Winner

    Send us a message! Your favorite “cheap beer” might be running on nostalgia, not flavor. Big Z, Chris, and Rob sit down with Matt for a follow up to the Budget Beer Battle from season 1 and do the only fair thing: pour a lineup of low-priced brews, sniff the damage, take the sip, and score what we actually taste. The table gets interesting fast with Utica Club, Foster’s, Coors Banquet, and Peroni, and we keep circling the same question: is it worse to taste bad or to taste like nothing at all? We argue about noses that don’t match the palate, beers that disappear the second they hit your tongue, and why one bottle earns points just for feeling like real beer. Then we total up the numbers and realize our “subjective” system is changing in real time. Round two brings Iron City, Corona Extra, Garage Beer, and a final contender that makes all of us stop and go, “Oh, there it is.” We talk beer tasting notes, beer pong utility, ABV, and value, including points-per-cost math that turns the episode into a genuine hunt for the best budget beer. One clear winner separates itself from a table full of mediocrities and earns the crown the hard way: by tasting like beer-flavored beer.  If you’ve got a budget lager you swear by, we want to hear it. Subscribe, share this with your beer group chat, and leave a review so more people can find the show, then tell us which cheap beer deserves a shot in the next battle. Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Tasting Budget Beer and Picking a Winner

  3. Aug 5

    War Time Leaders and Their Drinks of Choice Part 2

    Send us a message! Four wartime icons walk into a bar... Andy, Big Z, and Rob join Matt and we take history way too seriously to keep it simple. We’re back with a Wartime Leaders Booze Battle where each of us brings a leader, their signature drink, and a case for why that person matters long after the last battle ends. Expect real tasting notes, real history, and the kind of arguing that only friends can get away with. We start with Ulysses S. Grant and a high-proof Kentucky bourbon, tasting it straight and then with a few drops of water to see what actually changes in the nose and the finish. From there we hit Grant’s Civil War reputation, the complicated reality of his life after office, and the Mark Twain connection that turns his final years into something both brutal and inspiring. Then Big Z swings in with Harry S. Truman and a dangerously drinkable old fashioned, using it to trace the end of World War II and the decisions that shape everything that follows: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Truman Doctrine, the formation of the United Nations and NATO, and the early blueprint of the Cold War. We also get a deep appreciation for “breakfast cocktails” that may just belong in the past. Andy takes us medieval with Joan of Arc and a French Bordeaux that changes minds about red wine, price tags, and why drier Old World bottles can feel smoother and more food-friendly.  Matt closes with Tokugawa Ieyasu and a sake cocktail called The Patient Slice, built with sake, yuzu, and honey syrup, and it might be the best drink he's ever brought to the show. Hit play, pick your winner, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more history and cocktail nerds can find us! The Patient Slice 3 oz chilled Junmai Ginjo sake¾ oz yuzu juice¾ oz honey syrup (1:1 honey + warm water)Floating slice of lemon   Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    War Time Leaders and Their Drinks of Choice Part 2

  4. Jul 22

    Yuengling - Red, White, and Booze

    Send us a message! America’s oldest brewery has a survival story that reads like a crash course in U.S. history, and we’re pouring it up as part of our Red, White, and Booze celebration for America’s 250th birthday. From the jump, Yuengling is not just a brandbto us. It’s a living thread that runs through history, industry, and the way certain beers become part of a place’s identity, especially here in Pennsylvania.  We follow the brewery back to 1829, when German immigrant David Gottlieb Yuengling picks Pottsville, Pennsylvania and starts what was first called the Eagle Brewery. Coal country demand, cool storage caves for lagering, a devastating fire, and a relocation that still defines the brewery’s home base all shape the foundation. Along the way, the company becomes D. G. Yuengling and Son, locking in a family legacy that keeps the story personal and surprisingly resilient.  Then comes the big test: Prohibition. We talk through how Yuengling stays alive by brewing Near Beer and even running a dairy that makes ice cream, plus the celebratory flex when Prohibition ends in 1933 and beer gets sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. We also trace the modern era, from Dick Yuengling Jr.’s expansion beyond Pennsylvania to the return of the amber lager in 1987, the flagship green bottle that helped turn “lager” into a shorthand order at bars across much of the East.  If you love beer history, American lager culture, or the behind-the-label business moves that keep a legacy brewery thriving, you’ll get a lot out of this one. Subscribe, share with a fellow lager drinker, and leave us a review so more people can find the show. Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Yuengling - Red, White, and Booze

  5. Jul 8

    Budweiser - Red, White, and Booze

    Send us a message! Budweiser is everywhere and Josh takes over to tell the real story is how it became The King of Beers. We take a boozy, history-forward look at one of the most recognizable American beers ever made. Budweiser isn’t just a drink, it’s an industrial blueprint. We walk through how Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser turned beer from a fragile local product into a national brand by solving the biggest problems of the era: spoilage, heat, and distance. If you’re into business history, supply chains, or the evolution of American consumer culture, this part hits hard. Then we get nerdy about what’s actually in the glass. We break down why Budweiser uses rice, how that choice shaped the “American adjunct lager,” and what beechwood chips really do during conditioning (hint: it’s not about tasting like a barrel). From Prohibition survival tactics to the Budweiser Clydesdales and the post-war explosion of TV ads, sports sponsorships, and Busch Gardens, we trace how a beer becomes a cultural institution and why it still matters in the age of craft beer. Subscribe, share this with a beer-history friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the Red, White, and Booze series. What’s your personal “first Budweiser” memory? Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Budweiser - Red, White, and Booze

  6. Jul 1

    Jack Daniel’s - Red, White, and Booze Series

    Send us a message! Jack Daniel’s is one of those names you can recognize from across the room, even if you’ve never taken a sip. So we decided to go past the black label and square bottle and tell the story that actually built the brand, as part of our Red, White, and Booze run-up to America’s 250th birthday. For this installment, our friend Keb Pound from the Stupid History Minute hands us a tight, surprising history lesson that’s equal parts whiskey, culture, and America. We start where the legend really begins: Tennessee in the mid-1800s, and the often-overlooked mentor behind the method. You’ll hear why Nathan “Nearest” Green matters to American whiskey history, how his expertise shaped Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, and what the Lincoln County Process actually does to the spirit.  Then the pressure hits: temperance, Tennessee’s early Prohibition, national shutdowns, and the resilience it took to survive when so many distilleries didn’t. We also get into the strange lore, including the infamous safe story, plus the postwar choice that helped Jack Daniel’s explode by selling tradition instead of “new and improved.” If you like whiskey history, brand storytelling, and weird facts you can drop at the bar, hit play, subscribe, and share this with a friend. And if you enjoyed it, leave us a review so more listeners can find the show. Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Jack Daniel’s - Red, White, and Booze Series

  7. Jun 2

    White Wine Rocket Rankings

    Send us a message! Nine bottles. One table. Zero patience for boring wine. Andy, Josh, and Siobhan join Matt to drink, enjoy, and evaluate white wines! We’re back with a white wine tasting where we rank everything rocket-style and say the quiet parts out loud: some wines are perfect “patio pounders,” some are interesting but polarizing, and one local Riesling goes so candy-sweet it resets the entire definition of “sweet.” Along the way we compare three Sauvignon Blancs side by side, from California fruit to that unmistakable Marlborough, New Zealand grapefruit and grassiness, and we talk about what “finish” really means when you’re trying to explain why a wine does or doesn’t work for you. We also get practical with wine pairing and give you a simple rule you can reuse at home: think about where the wine comes from and what people eat there. From raw bar favorites and citrusy salads to pasta tossed with olive oil and garlic, we connect acidity, minerality, and body to real food decisions. Then we detour into the fun science, including how a White Malbec is even possible (skin contact is everything), what wild fermentation can add to a dry Riesling, and why “fruit-forward” is often mistaken for actual sweetness. The second half turns into a mini world tour: Spanish Albarino with a frizzante vibe, a stainless-steel Burgundy Chardonnay that surprises the self-proclaimed Chardonnay skeptics, and a Sicilian Etna Bianco with a mineral, savory edge that ends up taking the crown when we tally the final rankings. If you love white wine, want to love it, or just want to hear friends argue about oak, acidity, and bubblegum notes, hit play. Subscribe, share this with your favorite wine friend, and leave us a review with the bottle you want us to rank next. Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    White Wine Rocket Rankings

  8. May 5

    Weird and Funny Music Trivia

    Send us a message! Elvis drove what? Madonna got fired from where? What famous artist wore a chicken suit to work? Jen, Jordan, and Rob join Matt for a "Think Or Drink?" showdown around wacky music trivia like that, and it turns into the kind of game night where one risky lifeline can send your score into the negatives. We bounce through categories that mix pop culture, music history, and pure chaos: musicians’ odd jobs before fame, actors with secret band pasts, strange one-off performances, and the kind of weird artist quirks you can’t unhear. Along the way we see who’s actually behind famous guitar parts, and test how smart it is to “put it on their tab” when you’re not sure of an answer. If you’re into music trivia, classic rock facts, pop star lore, guitar history, and comedy podcasts that feel like friends around a table, this one delivers. We hit iconic credits like the Beat It solo, surprise guest appearances on legendary tracks, and the stories that make famous names feel strangely relatable. Then we crown a winner, pick the stellar sip, and send you off with a boozy quote to close the night. Subscribe for more Think Or Drink trivia, share this with your favorite music nerd, and leave a review if you want more wacky categories. What’s the wildest music fact you know? Support the show Visit www.mattandfriendsdtu.com for links listen, support the podcast, and more! Check out our sponsor, Poppin's Travel Company, for all of your travel needs! Their highly qualified agents are ready to book your next big adventure or dream vacation. Visit our merch store We'd love to hear from you on social media! Like and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X. Cheers, and thanks for listening!

    Weird and Funny Music Trivia
See All (81)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Welcome to Matt and Friends Drink the Universe,  the comedy podcast where great drinks meet great stories. Join host Matt and a rotating crew of friends as they share laughs, taste unique craft beers, cocktails, wines, and spirits, and dive into the stories, history, and science behind every sip. Every episode brings something different — from fan-favorite Stellar Sips (the drinks we love) to those dreaded Cosmic Chugs (the ones that crash and burn). You’ll also find a mix of fun episode themes like Alcohology, Think or Drink Trivia, Rocket Rankings, Bar Chats, and How Did We Get Beer? to keep every listen fresh and entertaining. Packed with hilarious banter, fun facts, and plenty of libation inspiration, this show is perfect for anyone who enjoys discovering new flavors while kicking back with great company. So grab your favorite drink, relax, and join us as we drink our way through the universe — one unforgettable pour at a time. Cheers!

Information

  • Creator
    Matt and Friends Drink The Universe
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    81
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Matt and Friends Drink the Universe
  • Show Website
    Matt and Friends Drink the Universe