Hare Beer Bunch

 The Hare Beer Bunch (HBB) is a group of discerning real ale drinkers that meets monthly at the March Hare. Formed five years ago by a small group of regulars, the HBB now has about 30 members, about half from Dunton, and the others from surrounding towns and villages.

The core purpose of the HBB, as agreed at our inaugural meeting is to ‘promote real ale in Dunton generally, and the March Hare particularly’. Other aims and objectives are to drink beer, talk about beer and arrange beer related excursions and events.

We have regular events at the March Hare, including a popular annual barbeque and a Christmas social and help to serve beer at the pubs two beer festivals, which are held each February and September. Past excursions included visits to:-

An evening at Dunton’s finest cider maker – Franklins

A coach trip to the Hitchin Beer Festival

A coach trip to sample six real ale pubs in St Albans starting at The Boot in the city centre and working our way westwards, eventually finding ourselves at The Six Bells

A coach trip to Oakham and the Grainstore Brewery

A visit to the Straw Bear Festival in Whittlesey

All of our outings finish at the March Hare, where we can relax with a final pint or two and regale anyone who will listen with details of our exploits of the day!

 New members are always welcome. There is no membership fee, no proper agenda either – just beer, beer talk, and quite a bit of laughter.  These informal meetings are advertised in the March Hare ‘Dates for your Diary’ and on the March Hare website.  They are usually the second Monday of each month at 8.00 pm.  In between these meetings you will often find one or more of the HBB in the pub, so if you would like to know more about us, please call in and someone will no doubt be able to provide more details.

For more information about the HBB, please ring or email the March Hare.

2017 Activity and New Year Round Up

Dunton’s own real ale club, the Hare Beer Bunch (HBB) had another eventful year in 2017. We particularly enjoyed the experience of running the barbeque and serving free beer (courtesy of the March Hare) at the village fete, part of Dunton’s Big Weekender. We held another successful BBQ at the March Hare in July and of course supported the pub’s two fantastic beer festivals in February and September.

We made several sorties out of the village, including an educational visit to the Charles Wells Brewery in Bedford and tours of pubs in Bury St Edmunds and St Albans. Our trips are advertised in the March Hare and are open to all, though HBB members get some priority in booking places and get to discuss and select where we will next visit.

Looking ahead to 2018, we’ll get off to a great start with the Dunton Wassail on 6th January – not really a HBB event, but it’s a great night which most of us will be supporting. After that we have our annual trip to the Straw Bear Festival in Whittlesey on 13th January, following which we will naturally return to the March Hare for a few more beers in the evening.

If you are interested in finding out more about the HBB, or joining one of our events, please email me  at

(rachandnige1@outlook.com) or speak to John at the March Hare, where you will probably find one or two of the HBB as well. Nigel Coomber

 

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