I know everyone wants me to talk about Belgian beer, and I will. But first, I thought an update on Champagne might be in order, as residents of Brussels drink more Champagne than anywhere in the world. As you wander around Brussels, make sure you stop in Champagnothèque. It is a wonderful shop and a unique opportunity to try some really fabulous Champagnes by the glass . . . yes, by the glass! Champagnothèque is a fantastic spot in the Galerie du Roi (King’s Gallery), an enclosed shopping area full of stores and restaurants. You can sit outside in café chairs or old movie theater seats and enjoy people-watching while sipping on the best.

Owner Eric Vauthier worked with a German medical device company to create a contraption to keep fine Champagnes tasty and bubbly for about a week. For each pour, our pleasant host Eric attached his surgically precise stainless steel device on the bottle and pumped the right amount of bars. For you novices, a bar is a unit of pressure, about equal to the atmospheric pressure on earth at sea level. Well, that’s why the Belgians bring in the Germans!

Brussels is very close to the Champagne Valley of France, so wise Belgians will drive across the border, fill their trunks with the yummy elixir and return home!

— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO