American beer doesn't suck, Americans' taste in beer sucks.

As for favorite beers, jeeheezus, where the fuck do you even begin?

Brown ales are probably my favorite style since they're just good all-purpose beers. Newcastle's a standard one, though I prefer Pete's Wicked Ale or Brooklyn Brown Ale in that same price/availability range. Pale Ales are probably second in general utility. Sierra Nevada is probably my favorite. Bass, Harpoon, Kona's Fire Rock Pale Ale, the list goes on. I don't meet a hell of a lot of pale or brown ales I don't like. Boddington's is a great ale too, I can't think of a situation where I'd turn one down.

The stouts, porters, and all that I'm not too into. I usually only drink them in the winter time, and even then I'm probably just going to make a black and tan out of them anyway, so Guinness'll do just fine thanks. Same goes with Mexican beers (only in the summer). Dos Equis Amber is pretty decent I guess, especially on tap in a Mexican restaurant.

German/Belgian stuff's always pretty dependable. Hoegaarden, Paulaner, Erdinger, Spaten, Duvel, Rare Vos, blah blah blah. It's all pretty good, though a lot of those bocks and shit tend to be pretty heavy on the alcohol. If you get a chance to try anything Ommegang does (particularly Hennepin), you'll definitely change your mind about American beer. Actually, you can go into any grocery store, close your eyes, point in a random direction, and hit a decent Hefeweizen no matter what country it's brewed in. They're really popular right now, but they're really a summer thing for me.

Once you get into the more mainstream lagers, meh. I like Harp and Sam Adams, but most of the other stuff I'm going to be drinking either because I'm in a very wierd mood, I'm broke, or my selection is very limited. So, if you're going to get some cheap beer, get Yuengling. It's cheap and it's pretty decent, especially on tap. Dundee's Honey Brown's the same way, though it's a tad more expensive and the sweetness will get to you after a while. If you have to go even down the strata than that, go in this order:

PBR (Hieneken!? Fuck that shit! PABST BLUE RIBBON!)
Genny Cream Ale
Michelob
Miller High Life (or Miller anything, I guess)
Coors
Bud

At least these beers, if you get them really cold, aren't going to taste too bad. If you have to get even shittier beer than those, just do yourself a favor and don't drink.

Unless someone from the company came over to your house and fucked your wife or something, what's there to HATE so much about them? It's not like there's that much difference between them and the other American macrobrew stuff.

Besides, there are much, muuuuch worse beers out there. Natty, Beast Ice, fucking Keystone. I could keep going, but I think I'm gonna' puke.