A room full of Richard Craniums

This past Saturday night, my long-time band herbie had the pleasure of performing at the familiar O'Reilly's Tap Room at the Best Western Premier for the launch party of the new Millbock Brewing Company out of Dauphin County.  Just to give a brief bit of history, O'Reilly's has since become my Thursday night home away from home for the past two years, as I perform there every week with The Think Tank.  Lucky for me, they also have a fantastic beer selection!  So I was equally thrilled to be playing a herbie show at a familiar place with lots of good beer.  For the past two years, we'd limited our gig roster to just a single gig, a holiday show held at Appalachian Brewing Co. in Harrisburg dubbed "A Very Herbie Xmas."  So we doubled our schedule for 2012! 

It proved to be a very long day for me, as I had already performed at the Mt. Hope Beer Fest at the Renaissance Faire grounds with one of my other bands, Mark DeRose and the Way Home, earlier that day.  Honestly, it felt more like I had attended the festival as an avid beer drinker and coincidentally also played a bit, as I was only contracted to play two one-hour sets of music with a four-and-a-half layover between sets.  Hence the mass quantities of beer samples.  OK, that sounds like an oxymoron.  Perhaps I will throw up a separate blog about this event. 

Unfortunately, I was too drained to really partake in any of the Millbock action, as I'd already been drinking at the festival all day.  I did want to try the brand new Citra dry hopped Blue Bell pale ale that they put in a firkin for the event, but by the time I'd made the commitment to drink it, it had already kicked.  Fortunately, my good friend Dan had about half a glass left, and was kind enough to share some with me.  It was pretty damn tasty!  Thanks again, buddy!  While it wasn't a true tap takeover event (Millbock represented about five of the available twenty-four taps at O'Reilly's), it was clear that folks were out to sample their beers.  While the firkin was an obvious hit amongst those in attendance, I understand there was plenty of Golden Toos and Richard Cranium flowing, as well as Millbock White and Black to round out the selection.  It looks like they are beginning to take off locally.  Be sure to check out local beer establishments such as Al's of Hampden and of course O'Reilly's for some of Millbock's beers.  There is even a rumor that they are working on a house beer for O'Reilly's, so stay tuned as more details develop.

All in all, it was a great night for me, with friends from both of my worlds of music and beer colliding to celebrate for the same cause.  I think all parties were pleased with the turnout, and we played a pretty damn smokin' set for only having two short rehearsals prior to the gig.  Thanks again to Chris at O'Reilly's and the Millbock crew for making us feel at home and making the event a success.  Cheers!