Wake ‘n’ Bake, coyly called “W ‘n’ B” on the label. The name is a tribute to a blend of coffee created by Terrapin Beer Co. and Atlanta’s Jittery Joe’s that is used in this coffee stout. And, boy, is there coffee in this beer! Pours opaque, engine oil black (“Black like my soul,” according to one taster, but he doesn’t scare us.). Even before you pick up the glass, the aroma is like walking into a coffee roastery. Coffee liqueur, black licorice, chocolate-covered espresso beans.
The mouth-feel is full and silky. Flavors of burnt toast and Nutella. “Espresso beans wrapped in 70 percent single-source cacao!” enthused one taster; or, more prosaicly, “plain M&Ms after you’ve sucked the candy shell off.”
The finish is rich, sweet and creamy, like a chocolate malted.
A tasty beer our staff will no doubt return to again and again.
Jittery Joe’s is based in Athens, Georgia, just down the road from Terrapin. The blend was created for the beer and is now sold by Jittery Joe’s, so Wake ‘n’ Bake is less a tribute to the coffee and more a tribute to the reason the TTB made the brewery remove the full name from the label.