Chur Brewing, the new Australian guise of New Zealand’s Behemoth Brewing, is in talks with several potential contract partners to facilitate local production of its beers, according to founder Andrew Childs.

Behemoth recently announced it would launch in Australia under the name Chur Brewing following a trademark dispute with a Melbourne-based brewer over the Behemoth identity.

“We’re sending stock over initially and we don’t know exactly how long we’re going to do that for,” Childs told Radio Brews News.

“The more long-term goal is to be brewing in Australia. We just want to have beer over there that’s fresh… [And] it will be more affordable for the customer so that they can have a reasonably priced pint.

“I’ll be over there making sure the beer’s exactly the way we want it to be tasting.

“We have been in talks with three or four different breweries in Australia and had some pretty positive discussions with them.

“Obviously the beer quality is first and foremost so we’re talking to the guys that we think make really good, clean, solid beer and have the ability to make the hop forward beers that we’re known for,” he said.

Learnings from freak accident
Childs said there were no particular procedures that could have prevented last year’s “freak accident” at 8 Wired Brewing Company whereby he and 8 Wired’s Jason Bathgate suffered severe burns when a brewing kettle exploded, covering them with boiling wort.

“There was a chimney on the tank to try and alleviate some of the pressure but it must have been blocked or something else happened to cause a buildup in pressure,” he said.

“I’ve only heard of something similar happening once in the States ever and you can imagine how many beers are brewed over the world every day.”

Childssaid the incident is a reminder for brewers to avoid working in the brewhouse alone.

“If anything bad happens… you could be knocked unconscious and you could be stuck there overnight and it could be too late for you,” he said.

The Chur foundersaid having access to emergency showers is also crucial, as well as setting out emergency procedures in the case of an incident.

Episode 85 of Radio Brews News is available to download here.