While the Denver Brewery could have should have and might have known better.....and could therefore easily lose any fight, they are the good guys as they asked for and offered possible solutions as an alternatitive to litigation. The response from the homebrew shop was "you offend me".
That is winning the battle but losing the war. A response like that gives no alternative to the Denver brewery than to go public with the issue in advance of explaining why they ended up changing their name.
In the long run (I agree it was unimaginative...they were home brewers, cut them some slack) it will be a better name than the first one they chose. The brewery will not lose business but the homebrew shop might very well.
In fact, I might just head down to the brewery next weekend to express my continued support...I hope to see you there...