A troupe of 6 residents gathers in the basement, some of them very old.
Vienna nursing home brews beer on Thursdays
Memory training, coffee gatherings, bingo – the Vienna Nursing Home complements the classic offers for pensioners in a promising way: almost every Thursday at 9.00, beer is brewed in the basement of the house with about 250 places to stay and care.
“The specific project matured from the idea of making schnapps during a job interview a good 2 years ago,” says co-initiator Robert Guschelbauer, Head of Gastronomy at 30 Häuser zum Leben.
The bottom-fermented “Oma” and “Opa” brands with an alcohol content of 5.2% were supplemented by slightly lighter versions of “Hellmut” and “Hellga”. “We are thinking about expanding production again,” Guschelbauer says. “300 bottles a week should turn into 600 bottles.”
Brings a lot of joy
“They are very successful,” says Helmut Riegerbauer. By his own admission, the 82-year-old former painter hasn’t really been a big fan of beer all his life, but in his old age he considers it good luck to drink his own barley juice. “Beer is a nice change to add to that.”
A troupe of 6 residents gathers in the basement, some of them very old. Sometimes there are more amateur brewers, sometimes less. Under the guidance of project manager Christoph Gruber, they stir the malt, add the hops, cork the bottles and apply the labels. “I like labeling, it’s fast,” says 92-year-old Ingeborg Zeller.
According to Gruber, the necessary knowledge was obtained at the courses of a beer sommelier. After acquiring equipment such as fermentation tanks and brewing kettles, the team got to work. To date, out of 170 brewing processes, they have had to discard a batch only once due to a manufacturing error.
The representative of the enterprise said that the idea as a whole is open to innovation. He mentioned, for example, an ongoing experiment in which mushy, unappetizing food for patients with chewing and swallowing difficulties is shaped into an appetizing shape using a 3-D printer.
Sales of their own brand of beer seem to be secured. The curatorium employs 13,500 people in 30 houses, and their families sometimes stop by specifically to buy Oma, Opa, Hellmut or Hellga. But they need luck or good timing – after all, often there is a sign in front of the refrigerator shelf: “Sold out”.
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Top photo: Matthias Röder/dpa
