Okay, but -

1) The major breweries have never attempted to shut down small breweries in order to sell Bud or Corona. Budweiser bought Red Hook in 1994. They still own 34% of it. Never once did they try to shut down Red Hook in order to sell Budweiser - instead, they profit off whatever Red Hook does.

2) It's kind of silly to think that InBev is somehow upset that sales of Shock Top are scavenging sales of Budweiser. Shock Top is much higher profit. If you asked Budweiser if they'd rather sell 3 glasses of beer they make 50 cents on or 2 glasses of beer they make $1.50 on, their answer wouldn't surprise you.

This is basically an argument that large brewers are somehow suffering from diversifying their product offering and moving their merchandise upscale - "Toyota is getting creamed by Mercedes Benz as evidenced by the formation and success of Lexus." I don't really get where it comes from: the idea that an outfit like Budweiser wants you to drink shitty beer instead of the idea that an outfit that sells beer wants you to buy their beer. If the market moves that way, that's the way a savvy company will go.

The Rise And Fall of An American Beer

PS. Leinenkugel has been making beer since 1867. They've been making it for Miller since 1988. Calling Leinenkugel an "ersatz" craft beer is like calling Moto Guzzi an "ersatz" Italian motorcycle manufacturer.