Not! the same question again

My suggestion - take a look at the top beers list in the styles you like and for the Belgium Region and go from there. Just don't expect the limited one-offs.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/lists/top/

 

Didn't try it yet but I have heard good things about the Chapeau Geuze. Their Chapeau fruit range is best avoided I think.

 

Crap beer in Belgium ??? Just avoid bars where they sell Heineken...we still have some spots and they won't go away (kidding)

 

I will give some advice on dutch beers, may you come across them.
Good dutch breweries in my opinion:
- de Molen
- Emelisse
- Jopen
- het Uiltje
- Rooie Dop

 

Get Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide of Belgium. It is an insanely good resource for Belgian Beer.

For me Struise is the best brewery in the world. By as much of them as possible.

DeDolle, DeRanke, Glazen Toren, Fantome are all awesome too.

Cantillon, DF and DeCam are great sours if you are into that. Virtually non existent these days in the states.

 

I must say Emelisse is a nice spot.... they also have great food ...

 

I certainly agree re: Tim Webb's guide. It's indispensable. He lists every brewery and provides very knowledgeable ratings and comments on their beers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Beer-G...r=8-1&keywords=tim+webb+beer+guide+to+belgium

 

Then perhaps you should wait for Tim Webb to publish a Bad Beer Guide of Belgium. I don't think an exhaustive list of shitty Belgian beer is going to show up here anytime soon. Why don't you post a list of the beers you intend to pick up? I'm sure you'd get plenty of help identifying the turds.

 

Stella? Jupiler? Delhaize 365 Lager?

 

The problem is that there really isn't much to avoid aside from the macros. Maybe the shelf stuff that sees wide international distribution like the sweetened Lindemans lambics, Chapeau, Timmermans, and St Louis? I think most everything else you'll find is at least worth trying.

 

Nobody is going to say what beers are bad.... there is normally no bad beer only its not your taste at that moment...

 

You said the following:

"What I'd like to know is what beers to avoid. I expect there are some bad beers disguised as potentially good beers, and I don't want to blow my money and space on well marketed crap."

Well, Tim Webb and Joe Stange's beer guide rates individual beers from every brewery on a star system and provides comments as well. If you're wondering whether you should buy or avoid a particular beer, just look it up and you'll quickly have an expert answer. Duhhhhh

 

I never expected to need to explain this, but Webb and Stange's Good Beer Guide to Belgium lists poor beers as well as good ones, and tells why they're poor, mediocre, etc.

 

Sheesh, talk about your reverse trolling... Anyway, trying to be helpful, when you're bar-hopping and such, especially around Brussels, you'll also see a lot of Morte Subite, Belle-Vue, Mystic kriek and/or gueuze, and maybe also Floris lambics, which generally disappoint if you're thinking of the Cantillons etc. (Of course it may still suit a serious thirst on a hot day.) Tourist bars push a lot of Kwak, an uncomplex malt bomb in amusing glassware. There are a lot of very common abbey brands on most bar menus that are fine but may leave you wishing you'd just gone Trappist: the Grimbergens, Cineys ... plus normal base Rodenbach, Bourgogne des Flandres (easily confused with la Duchesse de Bourgogne). All this said, it's hard to go wrong and you've got good guidance above.

 

I feel a bit guilty now to think of times when a Grimbergen or Ciney or a Tongerlo entertained me just fine. Buy the Webb-Stange and enjoy