If you can work your way through the hipsterest stuff, California does actually have a fair selection of good beers. Keep an eye out for Stone if you like beers with a bit of attitude (read: hops) to them.
There are also other more "common" brands like Lagunitas and whatnot. In my experience and opinion, Sierra Nevada basically only has the one beer that's particularly noteworthy (Torpedo), but it's a widespread brand and easy to find if you wanna try them out. Might also try Anderson Valley, I seem to recall their IPA as being perfectly acceptable, but I'm not exactly the leading authority on IPAs... When I do have them, I just like them quite hoppy.
If you like darker beers, Colorado has the Great Divide brewery and their quite decent "Yeti" stout. There's also a microbrewery in Nevada called Tenaya Creek that has a good selection, but I don't know if they distribute much at all... I forget if it was God of Thunder or their imperial stout that I liked best, most of what I remember of that experience is that they sold growlers of it. They also have a barleywine called Jackalope that's got a bit of a punch to it.
Don't tell me the japanese weren't able to reverse engineer beer; it would be a first.
Kirin/Sapporo are perfectly fine if you're eating something tasty and want something bubbly and non-threatening to wash it down with. Other than that... I think they just focus on different things with their beer, honestly.