Johann Hetrick was destined to play music and be a professional musician. He comes from a musical family—parents, aunts, uncles and cousins—who either teach music or play professionally. “It’s in my blood, I was born to do it,” he says.

Destiny stepped in again, and today Hetrick leads the band and serves as emcee at Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas. He’s been with the German beer hall since it opened its doors in 2004. “I was taking a shuttle back to my house from the airport,” Hetrick explains. “The shuttle comes by the lot where we are now, but it was empty with a chain-link fence around it and a sign that said ‘Hofbräuhaus Coming Soon.’ I made the shuttle stop, got out and wrote down the information and called them.” For weeks, he kept bothering them until they eventually hired him—Hetrick was well versed in German music, playing every German instrument and even heading up his own German music show at Excalibur during the ’90s, so Hofbräuhaus was where he had dreamed of working.

As emcee of the band, not only is Hetrick rocking onstage, he also ventures into the crowd to make sure diners are having a good time; he even gets them to play his instruments or participate in the polonäse, a German conga line. “I love my job,” he says.

And why didn’t he choose to teach music or play in an orchestra or philharmonic like most of his family? “I didn’t want that pressure to practice that hard just to be perfect. I just wanted to drink beer and play music for fun!”

Photo by: Christopher DeVargas

Libation: München Espresso Martini

With the espresso martini still all the rage, Hofbräuhaus jumped on the bandwagon with its version, which is positively delicious—and ordering simply one isn’t enough! The cocktail is mixed with New Amsterdam raspberry vodka, O’Reilly’s white chocolate Irish cream, espresso and simple syrup.

Benefit: The Oktoberfest (through Nov. 1) keg tappers this week include Randy Couture (Oct. 17) and Michael Yo (Oct. 18).

4510 Paradise Road, 702.853.2337. hofbrauhauslasvegas.com

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