Saturday was a busy one for me. Not only because there's the usual family stuff to do (well, I say family - more being a children's taxi service, really!), but because I had a trip out to Henley-on-Thames. It's now the home of a very interesting young micro-brewery called Lovibonds. Here at Surf4Wine we stocked their beers as soon as we tasted them! On Saturday I was the guest of the head brewer and founder of Lovibonds, Jeff Rosenmeier. His enthusiasm and hard graft has seen brewing and a very old name reborn in Henley. Here's the first part of my interview with him, where we chatted about where the name Lovibonds came from. Click on the play button below to listen.

Lovibonds part 1

And with local Michelin-starred restaurants and award-winning pubs catching on to what we knew years ago, it can't be long before the fame of this wonderful stuff spreads far and wide. It's all the more amazing when you think that Jeff doesn't come from Henley - heck, he's not even from the UK! Click on the play button below to listen to what brought him thousand of miles to rural Oxfordshire to make English beers with a European twist:

Lovibonds part 2

We fell in love with Lovibonds from the first sip, and now stock as much of the stuff as we can get our hands on. There are more details at www.lovibonds.com . The best way to find out why we're raving about this micro-brewery is to taste some. Click on the play button below to hear Jeff talk Surf4Wine through the range of beer he makes, and what they taste like.

Lovibonds part 3

On the dresser in my kitchen is a keg of beer. It's not a Watney's Party 7 (although many a student party in the 70s was oiled by that particular stuff, let's face it) but Lovibonds Henley Dark. It's a wonderful, traditional-tasting porter-style beer. But never mind the past - what about the future? Click on the play button below to listen to Andrew and Jeff talking about the problems with real ale, beards and sandals, and keg beers:

Lovibonds part 4

The first sunshine in goodness knows how many days saw the hot line between secret hollowed out volcano that is Surf4Wine HQ and the Chapman house come into immediate use. Mr C to Mrs C 'do you think we should have a Barbecue tonight?' 'Whatever' came back the cheery reply '... so long as you do the cooking'. Excellent me thinks I. But first things first... what to drink? (Funny how that is always the first thing on my mind... oh well)

Well, Mrs. C. is currently not drinking, so what should a boy do for a drink for one? Opening a bottle for one seems a bit extreme mid-week. I could obviously chose NOT to drink it all and lave some for tomorrow, but as we are off to sunny Devon that didn't seem practical either. M'mmm... I know. Beer! But which beer to drink?

Well, just arrived in the warehouse that very same afternoon were a clutch of new beers (See Andrew B's Blog post from yesterday). One in particular I had been keen to try ever since I saw it's reappearance on our beer suppliers list: Mahou beer from Spain. In fact, Mahou Five Star beeris Spain’s best selling domestic beer brand- don't say you don't learn something new with each Blog post ;). It was a staff as well as customer favourite when we last stocked it and it only disappeared from our list when we couldn't obtain anymore. Glad to see it back - but would it taste as good as I remembered?

I should have worried, Mahou **** lived up to expectations: Lovely crisp refreshing taste, not too heavy or gassy. Perfect for drinking while I watch the prawns on skewers gently turn fro pink to light gold. Went perfectly with the garlicky, lemony prawns - and didn't lave me with too much of a bad head next day (well, being a mid-week light-weight I only had a couple - it's no fun drinking alone!)

Mahou beer from Spain available by the case @ £34.50 for 24 x 33cl