In August Natalie had the honor of judging the final round the inaugural Bedlam Bar fight in Atlanta. Bedlam Vodka is growing fast but is still currently only available in 5 states, including North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia where all the contestants were from, and although they were limited geographically there was certainly no limit to the quality of contenders.

The competition was split into two section with the final 6 contenders battling it out in the morning to make the best Zing Zang Blood Mary’s and caffeinated cocktails for a top 3 place. The top 3 would then continue through to the final round in the evening, where they would contend in a number of rounds finishing with a presentation of their creative custom concoctions incorporating Bedlam Vodka.

The contenders all “fought” honorably, thought at the end of the evening there could only be one winner and the bad ass belt, and grand prize of $10,000, was awarded to Jeff Banks of C. Ellets Steak House in Atlanta with his Mr. Miyagi cocktail.

After winning the 2017 WSWA Brand Battle, Bedlam has been expanding their reach exponentially and were even recently nominated by USA Today as one of the 10 Best Craft Vodka Distilleries in the United States. The event was ticketed and all attendees had unlimited drinks and some delicious food options from PONKO Chicken and Poke Burri with all proceeds from the evening going to the Make a Wish Foundation.

I can’t wait to see who emerges from the shadows in 2019 to take on Jeff and try to take his belt away from him.