The smell of hops and malt spreads from the Atzgersdorf retirement home on the outskirts of Vienna retirement home from 2020. Its residents are brewing their own beer.
An idea that started as a joke has evolved into an innovative project that not only provides a fun and tasty way for the residents of this retirement home, but also helps them to maintain their motor skills and integrate into the community.
Older people are involved in the whole process of making the final product. Together with the local brewer, they mill and pass the malt, ensure the right temperature, and ferment the beer. They also take care of the labelling of the bottles themselves; lager is called ‘Oma’ (grandmother) and ‘Opa’ (grandfather).
Every Thursday morning, residents take a seat at the table to produce 150 bottles of craft beer based on a Viennese recipe from 1841 using only Austrian ingredients. “We meet up, talk about beer, make jokes about it and another day goes by, a nice day,” says one of the residents.
Since 2020 they have produced 15.000 bottles. Due to the high interest, they will soon double their production. Until now, the beer has been supplied to 30 retirement homes, but now it will also be available in all 150 Viennese pensioner’s’ clubs.
In addition to their own beers, Vienna’s retirement homes also produce honey, spice mixes, sweets etc.
What an innovative example how to activate older people and work with community!