Hoppiness: Brewing with Care Homes

This inter-disciplinary project involves working alongside older adults living in care homes, their carers and brewers to explore the histories and cultures of brewing in the South West and build towards the production of a beer through communal hop growing. Through a mix of creative and ethnographic methods, we will explore the role that activities orientated around growing, brewing and celebrating the heritage of beer might play in supporting wellbeing and social connection. It responds to the stigmatisation and social exclusion that people with dementia often face by developing opportunities for social connection beyond care homes, and the co-creation of creative outputs. Hoppiness is funded through Brigstow Institute and is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Bristol, Alive Activities and the Bristol Hops Collective.