The news, if one can call it that, broke on Friday. It spread like wildfire across Reddit and Facebook, consuming all the oxygen in Albuquerque’s little corner of the craft beer world.

We got emails, direct messages, texts, you name it. All asking the same thing about the big, maybe biggest rumor to hit craft beer news in these parts.

Is it true?

The answer is complicated. And, it’s not one that we can answer yet.

I come from a journalism background. I’ve worked for more than two decades with newspapers, magazines, other websites, and now a TV station. I’ve been full-time, part-time, and freelance. The one thing I do hold myself to, and this website to, is a journalistic standard of reporting news.

We do not publish rumors or hearsay. It is either on the record and worth publishing, or not on the record. If it’s off, we don’t publish it. On the record means confirmed by a direct source, from an employee or via a company statement. We would always prefer that person or persons to identify themselves, rather than just using a line like “it was confirmed by an employee who did not wish to be named.”

Sometimes maintaining that anonymity is necessary to help someone keep their job, but this is beer writing, not politics or crimes and courts. We would only go that route under exceptional circumstances.

In this case, we do not expect anyone from the brewery of rumor to do the anonymous source thing. We simply don’t know what to expect beyond that.

Perhaps there will be a company statement. Perhaps there will be nothing. We may not know the answer until closer to or upon the rumored deadline. No private company, in any industry, is beholden to the media or the public to announce anything about their internal matters. When people ask us how a brewery is doing financially, we honestly reply that we do not know, because they are not a publicly traded entity that is required to open their books to us, the Journal, or any other media outlet.

We realize that this rumored news came as a shock to many, and it came with far more questions than answers. How did this happen? How could this happen? What happens next? We are not holding back when we say that we have as many questions, and no more answers than any of you do at this time.

Perhaps in the coming hours, days, or weeks we will find out more. Perhaps we will not.

All we can do for now is to encourage everyone to keep supporting this brewery about which the rumors are swirling. The employees out front, in particular, still need those tips. They still have bills to pay, and lives to live. If it feels stressful for you as a fan/customer, just imagine how much more stressful it is for all of them.

Let us all hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Or, maybe it will fall somewhere in between.

Now, more than ever, keep supporting local.

— Stoutmeister