The Sovereign

The Sovereign at 1206 Wisconsin Avenue NW has established itself as one of the most serious Belgian beer bars in Washington, maintaining the depth of the Belgian beer tradition at a time when the craft beer market has expanded in so many directions that the specific focus on Belgian brewing can be lost in the noise. The Sovereign’s commitment to the Belgian tradition, with its fifty-plus Belgian ales on draft and a bottle list that extends the selection further, makes it the Georgetown address for the beer customer who understands that Belgian brewing is a separate and specific tradition from the American craft brewing that has otherwise dominated the beer conversation.

Belgian brewing produces the most diverse range of beer styles in the world: the Trappist ales, brewed by monks in the six Belgian abbey breweries, from the Westmalle Tripel to the Westvleteren 12; the saison, the farmhouse ale of Wallonia that is among the most complex and food-friendly beer styles; the lambic and gueuze, the spontaneously fermented wheat beers that the Brussels-area breweries produce from wild yeast and age in wooden barrels; the Flemish red and brown ales, which are aged in oak and develop acetic notes that give them the wine-like complexity; and the abbey-style dubbels, tripels, and quadrupels that the Belgian monastery system developed and that beer drinkers worldwide have come to treasure.

The Belgian kitchen at The Sovereign serves the food that is the traditional accompaniment to Belgian ale: the mussels, steamed in white wine and shallots or in the many variations that the Belgian mussel tradition has developed; the frites, which in Belgium are cooked twice in beef fat to produce the specific density and crispness that French-style fries cannot achieve; and the carbonnade a la flamande, the Flemish beef and beer stew that is the Belgian answer to the French boeuf bourguignon.

Hours run from 4pm Tuesday through Friday and from noon on Saturday and Sunday, with late closing on Friday and Saturday. The Belgian beer tradition that The Sovereign preserves is significant beyond its appeal to the beer enthusiast: the Trappist ales that the Belgian monastery system has produced for centuries, and the lambic tradition that the Brussels-area breweries maintain through spontaneous fermentation, represent two of the most distinctive fermentation traditions in the world. At The Sovereign, the customer who encounters these traditions in the context of the moules frites dinner is receiving both the beer and the food pairing that the Belgian table has always brought together. The Wisconsin Avenue location at 1206 is in the lower section of the main Georgetown commercial corridor, accessible from the M Street commercial district below and from the main Wisconsin boutique cluster above. The Sovereign’s beer-forward identity in a restaurant landscape that concentrates on wine and cocktails provides the Georgetown dining community with the specific address for the Belgian evening. Hours run from 4pm Tuesday through Friday and noon on weekends.