Here's my beer snob take on it.
US craft breweries are making some of the best beer I've had, but they are also making some of the worst. There are some I find outright disgusting. I picked out burnt rubber and grass flavors in the most recent local craft six pack I purchased. This was a sample pack with three different styles of beer from the same brewery and they were all disgusting. I dumped nearly half of the six pack. They were terrible, and this wasn't the first time I've experienced this when trying American craft beer.
That being said, I prefer the American craft beer I've tried when comparing them to European samples of similar styles. However, I've only had bottled and imported European beer, so I think this is an unfair comparison. Some of my local breweries here in Texas are making hefeweizens, pilsners, porters, and schwarzbier that I find to be far better than European ones I've tried, and it's not just because I'm supporting local breweries. I truly enjoy them even over other American breweries, but again, maybe it's a matter of freshness. These breweries have small distribution and likely go from brewery to customer much quicker.