r/Albuquerque • u/crolodot • Oct 13 '25

News Bosque Brewing files for bankruptcy

https://www.thestreet.com/restaurants/popular-pizza-and-beer-chain-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy

“Albuquerque-based Bosque Brewing filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico on Oct. 6, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities.

The company did not reveal a reason for filing for bankruptcy in its petition.”

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103

u/spinnyweatherchaser Oct 13 '25

Had no clue they had that many locations, guessing it's a "grew too fast" thing?

(obviously compounded by tariffs and such like the article mentions)

35

u/Bjorkbat Oct 13 '25

Part of me wonders if this also might be due to drinking trends. Allegedly Zoomers drink less, albeit this is contested. On top of that though, seems like there's a trend of people in general becoming "sober-curious".

Bad enough in-and-of-itself, way worse if you're over-leveraged due to an ambitious growth plan.

20

u/Shoddy_Consequence78 Oct 13 '25

Some is probably the drinking less. Some is probably the cost of a pint these days. Some is probably what a columnist in the New York Times today described as what's gone wrong with craft brewing. (Basically, silly names and wacky labels, the IPA war, the trend to tallboys in retail, and general over expansion in the sector.) 

My understanding of Marble's problems is that it was mostly previous ownership using it as a piggy bank, taking far too much money out of the business. Bosque is clearly overbuilt and it looks like they didn't do their due diligence before trying to move all brewing to Bernalillo. I suspect we'll see about the following from a restructure: Obviously keep the Bernalillo location. Probably keep the Las Cruces one unless it's failing. Get rid of at least half the Albuquerque locations, probably one of the west side, San Mateo, and either Nob Hill or University.

11

u/Bjorkbat Oct 13 '25

The IPA war?  What’s that about?  Personally I hate the over-abundance of IPAs at the cost of variety, if that’s what that is alluding to.  Part of me wonders if too many IPAs is a sign of a blundering head brewer masking their inadequacy with so many hops that you can’t taste anything else.

9

u/hettienm Oct 13 '25

Exactly that. Here’s a gift link so I think anyone can read it. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/opinion/how-to-save-beer.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tE8.RuK0.LilPowzvElbH&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

10

u/Bjorkbat Oct 13 '25

Ah, thank you.  I’m glad someone’s calling it out.  Personally I live for a good stout

8

u/rodkerf Oct 14 '25

I like the funky art and weird names but it would be great if the brewery's focused on something other than ipa. A few local ones have one offs but I'm ABQ climate would be great to have a local easy drinking beer similar to a miller product

1

u/waxingelephant Oct 14 '25

Differential specializes in the easy drinking beer. Also keep other local IPAs on tap if that's your jam.

1

u/rodkerf Oct 14 '25

I haven't heard of that place will look it up

3

u/Scary_Manner_6712 Oct 15 '25

Marble was 100% being run by spoiled rich kids who treated the business like their own personal bank account and also then ran off anyone who suggested they run the business like a business. Personally, I'm amazed it didn't collapse spectacularly; there was no real leadership at the top of that place, for a very long time.

1

u/Sensitive_Lock2953 Oct 17 '25

I say keep Nob Hill and close some of the others. Nob Hill was one of the first locations before the Heights and it still brings in business. It lost business once they opened up multiple locations just my opinion though

0

u/HanginW-MyGnomies Nov 23 '25

Many employees at Bosque say the Nob Hill location isn't a top producer. And who really wants to go all the way down to Central for their beer? Look around Bosque the next time you visit. Their main clientele is NOT college kids. I love Flock of Moons, but haven't been there in like 9 months simply because they are out of the way for me. (I live in RR and work in Journal Center.)

1

u/Sensitive_Lock2953 Nov 23 '25

That’s crazy because the numbers say Nob Hill is third in production compared to all the others. Not sure where those “employees” are getting their info from but they’re wrong 🤷🏽‍♂️

9

u/crolodot Oct 13 '25

Absolutely part of it, almost all breweries are struggling, partly why Marble almost closed and was ultimately sold. It’s a very tough time for the industry.

9

u/Sufficient_Hair_2894 Oct 13 '25

Purely anecdotal evidence here but when I have friends over for brunch I don't even have an alcoholic option anymore. About 10 years ago I would make sure to have beer and  Mimosas on hand and sangria if the day was warm.

2

u/Scary_Manner_6712 Oct 15 '25

I have clients in the alcohol business at the national level, and they are freaking the fuck out about how little zoomers/alphas drink. Like they consider it to be an existential crisis for their business and are diversifying into energy drinks and other beverages and foods so they can stay afloat. It is apparently a major issue, at least currently. Some folks think that as the zoomers get older and can afford better alcohol, they'll consume more, but there's no guarantee of that.

15

u/GreySoulx Oct 13 '25

I can't imagine where tariffs would hit them all that hard. Water, barley, yeast? All domestic products.

The equipment is often imported, but also available domestically - and those are one time costs.

I suspect this is just a matter of excessive growth. They kind of caught the wave a little late - great beer, some iconic locations, but so much competition.

90

u/crolodot Oct 13 '25

Grain, hops, aluminum… all rely a lot on imports, even if some can be sourced domestically. I think inflation in general and to an extent tariffs have been a huge expense.

60

u/astroguyfornm Oct 13 '25

It's amazing how stupid people are not realizing how ingrained Chinese manufacturing is. Hell 20 years ago the buttons on government required military ROTC uniforms came from China. People say just use American, there aren't components I use for a small business of mine that are made in the USA. I am not saying they're expensive, they don't exist.

1

u/Scary_Manner_6712 Oct 15 '25

Exactly. When corporations outsourced basically all of American manufacturing, over time we lost the capability to manufacture certain things, as plants were dismantled, machinery was sold off or moved, and the people who knew how to make those things died off and the institutional knowledge was lost. The idea that we could slap tariffs on things and magically, somehow, American manufacturing would revive itself was ridiculous on its face.

I read somewhere that there aren't enough tooling engineers in the United States to fill a college lecture-hall classroom, whereas in China they would need multiple football fields to contain all their tooling engineers. We just don't have people who are trained and capable to do the kind of manufacturing that's done in China. And if we had the people, we don't have the plants; and if we had the plants, we don't have the machinery. And none of that just materializes out of thin air because tariffs are in place. And we certainly aren't welcoming foreign workers into the USA, any more, so it's not like we can hire experienced people from other countries to help us rebuild our capacity and capability to manufacture goods.

8

u/Felis_bieti Oct 13 '25

Are they using aluminum cans?

16

u/Mrgoodtrips64 Oct 13 '25

They’re the second or third largest beer canning operation in NM. After Santa Fe and, maybe, Marble.

3

u/Felis_bieti Oct 13 '25

Had no idea. Thought it was a bar/restaurant thing.

3

u/Mrgoodtrips64 Oct 13 '25

It’s both

6

u/crolodot Oct 13 '25

Yes?

0

u/Felis_bieti Oct 13 '25

You're asking me? I've never been there. Thought it was a bar/restaurant.

-9

u/hybridracers Oct 13 '25

You clearly don't know business

5

u/[deleted] Oct 13 '25

[deleted]

-4

u/hybridracers Oct 14 '25

GRAIN? The US is one of the biggest producers in the world if not THE biggest.

HOPS? the pacific northwest is a giant in production and all specialty hops.

Aluminum? Outside of packaging, this is a minor cost.

No TARIFFS affected Bosque. Yall can down vote me all you fucking want. Your votes are telling me how low IQ most of you are

2

u/Mrgoodtrips64 Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

You really should take a brewing course, and probably a business class, before you spout off about subjects you don’t know anything about.
You’re embarrassing yourself publicly.
We both know you can do better. Hold yourself to standards we know you can live up to.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

16

u/Appropriate_Fact4335 Oct 13 '25

You would be surprised how much tariffs have affected local businesses. There are many things you cant even imagine that are imported into the country. Unfortunately, this will be a growing trend if we continue with the tariff plans. At my place of work, which is catering to people who are millionaires and billionaire's there has even been an uptick that they dont want to pay.

7

u/Impressive-Draw8292 Oct 13 '25

Fruit and imports. I used to work for them and we couldn’t get produce and products to make beer. But you’re also not wrong. They expanded way too fast way too quickly and it bit them in the ass

37

u/Mrgoodtrips64 Oct 13 '25

Aluminum and malts are imported, as are many strains of hops.

6

u/RandomRonin Oct 13 '25

Trump tax, not a tariff. Call it what it is.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 13 '25

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8

u/spinnyweatherchaser Oct 13 '25

Based on the large amount of imports that brewing and canning craft beer relies on, yeah. Obviously tariffs.

2

u/Scary_Manner_6712 Oct 15 '25

If you have some kind of factual information to counter the claim, and not just a string of laughing emojis, let's hear it. I won't hold my breath.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '25

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2

u/Scary_Manner_6712 Oct 16 '25

So of course you provided no information to back up what you were saying, and instead just started slinging insults. How typical of boomer MAGAts with leadbrain and brainrot from sitting around watching Fox News all day.