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Residents at Texas retirement home start crafting beer

AUSTIN, Texas — Residents at a Texas assisted living facility have taken up a new hobby at craft time -- beer making.

A small cadre of retirees at Parmer Woods at North Austin are brewing batches of beer, stout and cider then bottling them, as the latest entrant to the Austin craft beer scene, Parmer Woods Beer Works, KXAN reported.

“They feel like they’re really getting to be a part of something bigger and it’s real reminiscent of Austin itself,” Amy Casillas, enrichment director at the assisted living facility said. “There’s a microbrew every two blocks. It’s a way to stay part of the community while also putting our own little flair on it, which is always fun… It’s more than just something to spend time doing. It gives them a creative outlet, it gives them a long term goal, and it’s something to sort of brag about that I’ve made. We don’t often make things anymore. That’s not really what we do as a society, and to harken back to their younger ages when they made beer and they made preserves and they made jams — this is real similar to something they’re familiar with and it’s very comforting.”

Members of the group clean bottles as well as cap and store the completed product. A sign company has designed labels for each type of beer.

They make between 24 to 48 bottles each batch. They have brewed cider, IPA, oatmeal stout and wit. They plan to make an ale and lager.

Residents at Parmer Woods at North Austin still play Bingo but now they might win some of the beer they made.

They also hope to share their brews at events with their family in the future.

“They’re very proud, and they should be,” Casillas said. “It’s delicious.”