Grab your grass skirt, head to tiki river cruise
You know it’s a tiki river cruise when even the boat is wearing a grass skirt.
The United States Bartenders’ Guild’s Pittsburgh chapter is gearing up for its second Steel Tahn Tiki Cruise where cruisers will board the Rivers of Steel boat at the dock behind Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore. And yes, the two- story boat will be wearing a grass skirt.
The cruise will be held from 7 to 11 p. m. Friday.
“We did this last year, and people thought we were nuts,” organizer Linda Weissert said.
While guests sign in, ukulele music and a hula dancer will be featured. A non- alcoholic welcome punch will be served before boarding the boat, which will be outfitted with palm trees, orchids and other tropical foliage.
Once on board, the crowd of 110 can enjoy Polynesian fare prepared by Simon Chough of Soju in Garfield and it will be include kahlua pork sliders, pineapple- Spam- egg fried rice, vegetarian fried rice, chicken satay with peanut sauce and Asian cucumbers with accoutrements .
Meatballs from DiAnoia’s Eatery in the Strip District also will be featured. “It’s not exactly Polynesian or Hawaiian, but doggone good,” Ms. Weissert said.
Food and drinks will be set up at stations, allowing guests to roam while enjoying island exotica, surf rock and other tropical tunes spun by DJ Zombo.
Being a Bartenders’ Guild event, the focus will be on the drinks, which will be mixed by several notable Pittsburgh bartenders.
Maggie Meskey, a former bartender who now is the general manager at Fish Nor Fowl in Garfield, will make Long Thailand Iced Tea by combining Thai tea, vodka, citrus and tamarind.
Max Stein of Hidden Harbor in Squirrel Hill will mix Krakatoa, which includes rum, guava, lime, honey and pineapple. Ms. Weissert called it a “classic, decadent tiki drink” and noted that the Bartenders’ Guild chapter is “thrilled and honored to have him” for the event because he is a well- known tiki mixologist even outside Pittsburgh.
Jason Renner of Bar Marco in the Strip District will make Queen Emma, a drink honoring the last queen of Hawaii and containing jalapeno- infused rum, cinnamon, tiki bitters and lemon and topped with Natrona
Bottling’s peach ginger beer. Ms. Weissert, who tasted all the drinks at a recent showcase, described this creation as “absolutely delicious and not too hot.”
Olivia Lindstrom, who bartends at South Side’s Acacia and serves as sommelier at Spork in Bloomfield, will bring Coco Livia Kope, a mixture of Appleton rum, Maggie’s Farm coffee liqueur, coconut liqueur and blackstrap rum.
The guild will auction off several themed baskets, including an adventure basket, a spa basket and a restaurant basket. Ms. Weissert is preparing two baskets — a tiki basket with rum, liqueurs and tiki bar gift certificates and a Cleveland bar crawl basket that she assembled on a recent trip to Cleveland. She got Porco and the Spotted Owl, two Cleveland tiki bars, into a friendly competition to see who could donate more to the Pittsburgh event. One bar contributed a $ 50 gift certificate, and the other then upped the ante by contributing a $ 51 certificate.
Last year’s event raised $ 11,000 for Rivers of Steel’s STEM- based education programs, and Ms. Weissert hopes to top that total this year. Tickets are $ 125 and are available on eventbrite. com ( search for The Steel Tahn Tiki Cruise).
“We did a lot of good last year,” she said. “We made a difference, and it feels good as a group of bartenders and aficionados” to serve the larger community.