A quiz about beer can be useful and fun brain exercise, especially for men with dementia, most of whom suffer from Alzheimer’s! Because in a healthcare institution, whether it is a care center or a nursing home or in day care, men are often in the minority. This means that real ‘men’s topics’ are often not discussed. Perhaps also because most activity leaders are women! Beer is then a theme that older gentlemen with dementia are more familiar with than the ladies. A quiz about lager is a playful, relaxing activity that brings back memories and thus stimulates the memory. Brain exercises and reminiscing go hand in hand.

Preparing a beer quiz for seniors with dementia

To get started, you will of course need lager quiz questions for this activity.Some questions can be found below. With some answers to questions that may be a bit more difficult.

If you use this questionnaire, you can also use a number of objects, namely:

1. A beermat
2. A beer bottle from which you have removed the cap and label and another ‘bare’ bottle (not a beer bottle)
3. A pilsner glass and one or more other drinking glasses
4. A ‘vase’: this is a beer glass that is narrow at the bottom and widens towards the top
5. A ‘whistle’: a slim, straight beer glass
6. A number of beer glasses for participants to drink beer from if they are allowed to drink alcohol
7. Beers (possibly different brands)

Tip:

Be aware that some people have bad experiences with alcohol! For example, a father or a husband or a son or daughter who drank too much. If necessary, ask nursing staff about this or, if you have permission to do so, look at a client’s file. Also realize that there are elderly people who are not allowed to drink alcohol at all for medical reasons or who do not want to drink beer because of their religion. Of course you respect that, regardless of whether it concerns that beer, a glass of wine or a seemingly innocent lawyer.

Questions and answers for the beer quiz for elderly people with dementia

1. What is the name of making beer? Brewing
2. Name one (or more) well-known beer brand. For example Grolsch, Heineken, Amstel, Oranjeboom, Bavaria
3. Where is beer made? In a beer brewery
4. Name a famous beer brewery. Heineken.
5. Give another word for beer. Beer
6. How thick should the foam head be on a beer? Two fingers thick.
7. What happens if someone drinks too much beer?
8. What is beer made of? Water, grain, hops, yeast.
9. Choose the beer glass from these two glasses.
10. Choose a beer bottle from these two bottles.
11. What is in beer that makes someone drunk?
12. What is this object? Show a beer mat.
13. What is a beer mustache?
14. What do you say when you’re having a beer with others? Cheers, health, prosit.
15. What is a beer belly?
16. What is the difference between being tipsy and being drunk?
17. What is a ‘whistle’? A beer glass with a certain shape (show it, possibly in a picture)
18. What is a ‘vase’? a beer glass with a certain shape (show it, possibly in a photo)

Tip for the beer quiz:

If you do not have certain items or cannot easily obtain them, look for suitable images in advertising brochures, magazines or newspapers. If you have a specialty beer store nearby, ask if they have some visual material or ask if you can take photos there. This is often possible if you explain that it is for elderly people with dementia. You can also call the PR or Information department of a beer manufacturer: who knows, they might send you a stack of beer mats.It will be easier for you to get something like this if you explain for whom and for what purpose you need it. If you have gone into a specialty beer store, it will of course also help if you buy something there.

Further development of a program with a beer quiz for older men with Alzheimer’s

If the participants are allowed to drink beer because there are no medical objections and you have no (ex) alcoholics in your group, you can of course have a beer together. Perhaps one of the gentlemen could make a toast? You can also come up with one together. Or you can toast the group yourself.

This topic lends itself well to a conversation about the past, a reminiscence conversation.

Think about questions like:

1. Do you like lager?
2. Which beer brand do you like best?
3. How old were you when you drank your first beer?
4. Do women drink beer too? Did your wife ever drink a beer?
5. Have you ever been tipsy?
6. Have you ever been drunk?
7. What do people do to get sober?
8. Have you ever gone to a café?
9. Who did you go to the pub with to grab a beer?

A beer brewery nearby?

If there is a brewery in your area, see if it can be of help to you.Material, a tour, a short video, etc. An overview of local beer breweries can be found via this site: www.brouw-bier.nl.

Conclusion about a beer quiz for elderly people with dementia

A question and answer game about beer can be a fun relaxing activity, especially for elderly men with dementia. The subject also has a summer character. Of course you don’t have to shut the women out! You simultaneously stimulate memory and reminisce/retrieve memories. It is an adult topic about which you can ask simple questions. I would say: cheers!

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