MY COMPLIMENTSAND CHEERS!

Up Close qnd Personol: Conrqd Seidl

Beautiful women are his hobby, according to the confidentiatfiles of the Austrian Ministry of Defence, in which the CV of Conrad Seidt,

political iournalist and Beer Pope, is painstakingly recorded. 48 hours spent at theside of one of Vienna's most dazzling personalities can enrich one's own life andthoughts considerably. Many-sided, colourful and very hard to grasp ptrecisely

- fhese qualities are what has created the myth of this patron saintof beer, this Homo Austriacus.

12 noon. We're meeting inHollerbusch, one of Seidl'sfavourite pubs, well-hidden in thefirst district, and yet only a stone'sthrow from the city hall and theparliament building, the universityand the newspaper offices. l'mgreeted with a kiss on the hand,requisite and expected behaviourfor a genuine Viennese gentlemanand connoisseur of women. Usually,he meets the politically prominenthere, whenever confidentialityis required and somethingbig is going down.

Conrad Seidl is a military journalist,or perhaps more precisely a poli-tical reporter for the STANDARD,and in particular responsiblefor questions regarding nationaldefence. A reconnaissance manso to speak - and one who servedin that division of the army duringhis national service.

Conrad was born on 11 August1958 in Vienna. His father is privycounsellor (Hofrat) for the LowerAustrian provincial government,and his mother is a civil servantand comes from a prominentofficer's family. The son can sensefrom an early age that his parents'characters are too diverse totruly harmonise with each other.

Although or perhaps preciselybecause he feels he's inheriteda propensity for his mother'sbrooding introversion, he modelshimself on his father, who is open,

fun-loving, and full of life, an inspi-ration for Conrad. "Like so manyof her generation, my mother wasnever able to live the life shewanted."

Alwoys o bit of freedom

ln one way, however, she servedas a sterling example for thegrowing young man: "Alwaysstand up for those who areweaker" - the chivalrous wordsof his mother Margarethe Seidlbecome Conrad's leitmotiv:Let those be heard whoare otherwise ignored.Get involved.Use languageas an instrument.

As early as 1968, at the tenderage of 10, Conrad makes thedecision to become a politicaljournalist. lnspired by the dramaticevents in the CSSR, he set hisprofessional goals at a trme whenother kids were dreaming aboutflying to the moon. "Austria wasa neutral country, and we wereafraid the Russians would comeback and overrun us. I thoughtat the time, l'd like to learn toanalyse and to repoft on thesekinds of situations and theirconsequences."

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Young Conrad is a loner. He amblesalone through the museums inthe first district, where he's growingup and where he attends massevery day at St. Stephan's cathe-dral. He knows very early that hispath will not be ordinary. He does,however, let his hair grow downto below his waist and he takespart in demonstrations for peaceand justice, and is interestedin any- and everything exceptschool. Writing and only writingcaptivates him, and so he writesday and night. School newspaper,school radio, he arms himself withanything that might prove usefulin his approaching career.

After passing his comprehensiveexams, he does his stint in thearmy, then takes his first jobat IBM in programming, to keepfrom putting blinders on too early."So many journalists haven'tIearned anything besides writing.They can't see beyond the type-writer carriage or the computerscreen. I wanted to dive intosomething completely different,to gain perspective."

At the age of 21, he comes to thenotice of the lnternational AtomicEnergy Agency and negotiateswith them a well-paid A-yearhalf-day contract, so he hastime to continue to ply his pen.ln the morning he writes com-puter programme, in the afternoon,whatever he feels like. "l neverwanted to do just one thing.Anyway, I always have to feela bit free." Freedom - spiritualas well as physical - plays a signi-ficant part in the life of Conrad S.

His lovely and clever wife of29 years, Viktoria, describeshim without rancour as "Singlewith familial obligations." Shehas been almost solely respon-sible for raising their two children,Titania (24) and Leander (18).Their daughter studied art, andhas exhibited paintings inter-

26 . BBil 6/2013

Another sideof Conrad Seidl:SeidlwithEm O UnivProf Dr jurManfred Welan,one of Austria'smost impoftantauthorities onthe constitution

nationally, and their son is goingto study business. Their homeis a loft in an aftist's quarter, builtin an old bread factory - and allthree are very laid-back aboutthe fact that Father only sleepstwo thirds of the year at home.The rest of the time he spendstravelling the land with missionarypurpose and intent.

His position os /Beer Pope'

After all, the head of the familyis a pope, and how many peoplecan make that claim. The title'Beer Pope', by the way, hasbeen copyrighted by ConradSeidl. The publishing companywhere he published his firstbook about beer and its culturesuggested the title to him.Conrad recognised immediatelythe hidden potential in the name,and there's one thing he knowsfor sure: Where beer is concerned,he's a hard man to fool. Over time,his passion for hops and malt hasmade him one of the most sought-after beer experts worldwide.

It's been 20 years already sincethe Maisel Brewery voted Conradthe best German-speaking beerjournalist. He's been repeatedlydistinguished by the NorthAmerican Guild of Beer Writers

Seidl amongpoliticians:

(from left to right)the Austrian

Minister ofAgriculture

NikolausBerlakovich,

Conrad Seidl,Lower AustrianGovernor ErwinPröll, and State

ParliamentPresident Hans

Penz

for his articles in AmericanBrewer about brewing technology,and he has enjoyed many otherinternational awards. Books,Columns, Seminars - "Herr Seidl"lets no opportunity to spreadhis gospel of hops go to waste.

At the end of 1999, Conrad Seidl's'Bier-Katechismus' is released,followed two years later by thecookbook 'Aus Bier-Küche undBier-Keller', co-authored with hiswife. Conrad Seidl's Beer Seminaris available as a book with anaccompanying DVD, or moreprecisely, as a double DVDwith an accompanying book.Additionally, every year he bringsout a new edition of his famousBeer Guide, the 13th in 2012.

ln it, he discusses draught culturefrom the Bodensee to the Neu-siedlersee, the length and breadthof Austria. Almost 1,200 Austriantaverns are subjected to criticaltastings, and only the very bestare distinguished by a correspond-ing number of beer mugs. 'Brewdaring beers!' is the heraldicexhortation of the guide's author,and so it comes as no surprisethat such exotic sorts as 'Bonifa-tius Barrique,''Spekulatius Ale,'or'Pirate Queen Pofter' (agedin a rum barrel!) have been award-ed special prizes by Seidl.

The 'Pirate Queen Pofter' canbe tasted at one of his favouritehangouts, the 15'16 BrewingCompany, an American-style pubcomplete with its own in-housebrewery. Horst Asanger is thebrewery owner and a friend ofSeidl's and shares his predilectionfor strongly flavoured beers.

Conrad was happy to grantthe tavern owner's wlsh to invitegood brewers with unusual beersto Vienna, and in February 2004,Bill Covaleski from the VictoryBrewing Company in Pennsylvania

ili

visited 1516 and granted themthe licence to brew the Company'sbeers. Ever since, American hopshave been bubbling away in thepub's tanks, and Seidl is happy.After all, ever since then hisfavourite beer has only beena few steps away.

Be your own brqnd

Anyone who's underway withthe beer guru soon learns howmultilayered this seemingly simpleproduct of the brewer's art can be.Tastes of peach, banana, grapefruit,chocolate, smoke, or bacon -the panoply of flavours canbe extended almost indefinitely.For the hardened palate, the chilibeer, which brought tears to theeyes of a Russian military attach6,might be worth trying. The moralof the story: With regard todiversity, very little can comparewith the hoppy brew, and whatgoes for the beer goes for itsPope - multifacetted, surprising,and always ... something else.

Mr Seidl went through manydifferent guises before arrivingat his current identity: long hair,short hair, blonde hair, no hailbig glasses, square glasses, small,round glasses, grey suit, wackysuit, no suit. By the time he wasthirly, at the end of the eighties,he had found himself. Since then,his head is devoid of even thetiniest hair, his spectacle framesare exclusively red, and the tra-ditionalAustrian look in clothingis almost obligatory.

Mr Seidl wears rustic 'lederhosen'only - custom cut by Austria'smost recognised tailor, of course."Be unique and recognisable"is his current motto. He advisesanyone who wants to have long-term success to create his ownbrand identity.

His book'Die Marke lch'(BeYour Own Brand), which he andthe market researcher WernerBeutelmeyer brought out in 1999,continues to sell well. lt describesthe art of self-presentation in thesmallest detail, a kind of stylingconsultancy at the highest level.lf, however, you are of the opinionthat you can pigeonhole Mr Seidlbecause of his exacting andconstant cultivation of his image,you couldn't be more mistaken.Just when you think you'vegot him in the right-sized box,he jumps out again, like a jack-

in-the-box and thumbs his noseat you, exclaiming "Na, na, na,na, na! You'll never catch me!"

Seidl, the porodox

Conrad Seidl is a paradox, exhaust-ing yet fascinating. ln the eighties,for the conservative daily paperthe KURIEFI, he assumed the roleof the alternative-green politicaljournalist. He is passionate aboutecological politics, and as a resultof his perseverant news coverage,the construction of a hydroelec-tric plant on the Danube canbe prevented. He rails againstthe dieback of forests and cheerson alternative energy methods.He has the enmity of industry,but the love of the farmers, tothe extent that they award himthe prestigious Hans-Kudlich-Preis for exceptional servicein agriculture.

His enthusiasm for ecologicalissues remains undiminished.He continues to write a regularcolumn, 'Conrad Seidls Zwischen-ruf' (Seidl's lnterjections) forÖkoenergie, the eco-paper withthe largest distribution worldwide.He has worked as a reporterand political commentatorfor the STANDARD since 1989,responsible among other thingsfor questions concerning nationaldefence and empirical socialresearch. For books like 'Wehr-haftes Österreich' and 'Der HomoAustriacus in einer verändertenWelt' he was awarded the NationalMedal for lntellectual NationalDefence in 1988.

Although his detractors mightascribe him chauvinistic tenden-cies, nothing could be furtherfrom the heart and soul of Seidlthe patriot than blind faith in anysystem. To adopt any idea withoutrigorous examination he wouldregard as anathema. He belongsto no political party, and describeshimself as a sceptical conservative,but you could also call him anidealist. "On the staff of the conser-vative paper I was the tokenleft-winger, on the left-liberalpaper l'm the token right winger."

^[our Beerness!'

Who could be surprised to learnthat this pope's favourite beer iscalled 'Hop Devil,' and his holiness,at least as far as drinking is con-cerned, diabolically possessed?

Conrad Seidl in conversationabout tax questions in 1999

But make no mistake, questionsof faith are no joking matterfor Mr Seidl. Trying to discussthe merits or malarkey of religionproves to be difficult, if notimpossible.

On a quick tour of Vienna'schurches, however, Conrad showsthat he can also take a lighterview of things. As a good Catholic,he genuflects before the entranceto the hallowed halls, a piousgesture, which he finds easiersince eating less (without,of course, cutting down on hisdrinking!). "Since I lost 15 kilos,I get up a lot faster."

lf you ever have the pleasure ofstrolling through Vienna's fabledlanes at the side of 'his Beerness'(a term coined years ago but stillused by his son Leander), allowme to give you a few pointers:

- Drink nothing but beer,preferably for 24 hours,and without getting drunk.

- Show great respect for farming.

- Do not try to questionthe validity of afrozen chicken/fighter jet exchange.

- And always remember:ln Vienna, anything is possible.

"Unfodunately, I'll never be Godin heaven" are the beer pope'sparting words; but then you seehim striding away, his imposingfigure with its flowing coat,his hat sporting snow goggles,and you know - one day,he might just make it. tr

Tamara Dragus

After completingher studies in German,English, Theatre, Film,and Media with anM.A., Mrs Dragus hasworked as a freelancewriter for advertisingand in journalismsince 1997. She livesand works in Cologne.www.tamara-dragus.de

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