I usually assume when Europeans complain about American beers, they just are complaining about our “domestic” beers like Bud Light, Coors, PBR, etc. which makes sense, they are our bottom shelf beers.
I recently chatted with someone at a party who said “no, all American beers are bad” including microbrewery beers.
I’ve never been to Europe so I wouldn’t know, but I do like my Left Handed Milk Stout, NWPAs, and hell even the hipstered out IPAs.
Are these what y’all are referencing?
I’m from the Netherlands, and we say the same for Heineken and also for the Belgian variant Jupiler. The truth is, at a party or festival it’s mostly these or Bud that are available, and people drink a lot of it. At home I’ll mostly drink Krombacher, or some other German brand since I live close to the border.
I’ve been to the US once, and stayed in the Boston area. I drank a lot of Sam Adams lager there, which was decent enough for me. I’d assume every region will have it’s own decent brand of lager, just as it is here in Europe.