Previewing The Sovereign With Greg Engert, Pt. 1

Earlier this year, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group announced the opening of The Sovereign, a Belgian-focused bar and bistro located at 1206 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Georgetown. The two-story space contains an 84-seat first floor dining room and a 47-seat bar on the second floor.

In anticipation of the restaurant’s early February opening, we’ll speak with Neighborhood Restaurant Group Beer Director Greg Engert about the new beer program and, per usual with Greg, a number of other beer industry-related topics. In this first interview, we put The Sovereign into context in the restaurant group and beer bars in general, discuss how beers are selected, and talk about pricing and importing Belgian beer beers. Future interviews will focus on the food program and beer service.

What follows below is a transcript edited for length and clarity.
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DCBeer: Neighborhood Restaurant Group already has a number of properties, and now you’re opening another one, so what’s the motivation for opening a Belgi