Terrapin hosts its annual Wake-n-Bake Off at the brewery in Athens. After a good few years’ run of judging the competition, I thought it was a good time to look back at the photos over the years.
Few events on the Athens or Atlanta, Georgia, food and beer calendar hit quite like Terrapin’s Wake-n-Bake Off. For a stretch of years, I had the privilege of sitting on the judging panel for this thing, which sounds glamorous until you’ve eaten your weight in Wake-n-Bake-infused dishes. The first judging year (don’t even remember what year now), it was about 30 beer-infused desserts in a row. So you were tipsy with a heart rate of a hummingbird. It was one of those events that reminded me how much I loved writing (and drinking) about beer. Local chefs got genuinely creative with Wake-n-Bake as their canvas or paint, or whatever artistic reference you want to make hereāand an Athens crowd showed up ready to eat well and drink well.
Some of the dishes have stuck with me, like smoked brisket with Wake-n-Bake BBQ sauce and hush puppy cornbread, Wake-n-Bake S’mores Pizza, not to mention various chicken wings, brownies, ice creams, and even a Jell-O.
The Wake-n-Bake Off is back in Athens this weekend, marking the 21st year of the event’s namesake, Wake-n-Bake. If you’re in the neighborhood of Terrapin Beer’s taproom in Athens, this event has never let me down.
Below is a look back through the Beer Street Journal photo archives. Hopefully the photos do it justice.
This year’s event is Sunday, February 22, 2026.TICKETS
