Noah Sanborn Friedman on Why the Best Time to Invest in Alcohol is Now

The co-founder of Top Shelf Ventures explains his thinking

Alcohol stocks tumbled last week, almost the minute the US Surgeon General announced that alcohol causes cancer — a dismal start to the alcohol sector’s 2025.

Somebody who will keep investing in booze is Noah Sanborn Friedman, the 29-year-old Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Top Shelf Ventures:

• It’s a “venture fund focused on finding, funding, and accelerating the best opportunities in the broader beverage alcohol space”

• Co-founded with Jason Sherman in November 2021

• Their first deal was the boxed wine Gratsi

• Their first fund did six deals, and Noah predicts their second fund will do another 20 to 25.

Noah Sanborn Friedman

Noah came on the podcast in late November 2024, and explained why he’s so positive about the alcohol business, at a time when so many others are not.

The alcohol sector remains a big opportunity

Noah says that not only is the alcohol industry “massive” but it’s still lucrative.

“It has had 50 years of straight growth, which is very rare for any American industry,” he explai…