As first reported by Albuquerque Business First on Tuesday, the ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed by Bosque Brewing came to an abrupt end after a federal judge’s ruling.

Following a hearing last week, Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz dismissed the Chapter 11 filing, citing that Bosque simply had too many debts for any restructuring deal to overcome. No one, not even Bosque’s attorney, opposed the motion and it was officially granted Monday.

From here, there are some possible paths forward, but the likeliest is that Bosque will be declared insolvent. The brewery claimed in court filings to have approximately $2 million in assets, while owing $4 million to Live Oak Bank of North Carolina. That is the largest debt of any of the creditors, so it is likely that Live Oak will be the lone recipient.

The other debtors, and there are many, will have little recourse at that point. Lawsuits could be filed against the brewery owners, two of whom have already declared personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

So far, Bosque has not made any public statements. Other media organizations have reached out to no avail, though KRQE reported that they were told a statement would be coming after the Christmas holiday.

The fate of the remaining six Bosque locations (North, Cottonwood, Heights, Nob Hill, Telshor, Las Cruces) is unknown. It is also unknown if this will affect two other businesses owned at least in part by Bosque, Restoration Pizza and Smothered.

On top of all that, it is unknown if Marble Brewery will continue to brew Bosque’s core lineup of packaged beers.

Basically, there is a lot of unknown right now. Come Friday, or possibly next week, we could all learn more. The odds, though, are not in favor of Bosque surviving this ruling, bringing to an end what had become the fourth largest brewery in New Mexico in terms of annual barrels produced, and the largest in terms of overall locations.

If anyone has any additional questions for us, leave them in the comments and we will do our best to answer them, but please remember we do not have law degrees in our back pockets.

— Stoutmeister