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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Battle of the Belgians

Rick Bonino

Old and new brewing worlds collide tonight at Nectar Wine and Beer in Kendall Yards.

The bottle shop and bar is pulling three classic Belgian beers from its extensive bottled selection and matching them against three similar American interpretations of those styles.

The card includes Saison Dupont versus pFriem Saison from Oregon; Timmerman’s Oude Gueuze lambic and The Bruery’s Rueuze Gueuze from California; and the Trappistes Rochefort 10 quad against another Oregon challenger, Crux Fermentation Project’s Doublecross strong dark.

“Based on my experience, there’s definitely a big range that comes with the American versions (of Belgian styles),” says Ben Simons, Nectar’s resident beer guru. “It will be interesting to see how they stack up against each other.   

“I’m really curious to see people’s impressions of the two gueuze-style beers. And the Crux is a great beer, but it’s going up against one of the top Trappist styles.”

The tasting runs from 6 to 8 p.m., and costs $10. That includes four-ounce samples of each beer along with accompanying cheeses, and possibly some charcuterie.

It’s the first beer event that Nectar, which opened in April, has done other than the regular first Thursday tastings with its featured brewery of the month, which takes over six of the 16 tap handles (the next one, with San Diego's Ballast Point, is next Thursday).

But more are on the way. The schedule shows an Aug. 27 tasting that pairs rare IPAs with various cheeses.