Menabrea -The Guitar Workshop

I was so excited when I landed a spot for this event! Food and guitars, I mean how much better could it get? Thanks so much Briony!
When we arrived we were shown to tables in the seating area upstairs and given a choice of a Menabrea blonde or brown. Both were great, but I think I preferred the brown. There were a number of starters served up by the folks at The Raven. This included some chilli cheese fries, beef burger sliders and some macaroni burger sliders with cheese (yes you read that right). I would have to say my favourite was the latter, but I’m pretty sure it’s still blocking my arteries.
After the tasty food we made our way to a section in the back of the room that was set up for the guitar masterclass. The guys from The Guitar Workshop guided us through the process of how they make their beautiful guitars. Much of this was over my head, but as a guitarist I found so much of this to be very fascinating.
I’ll definitely be back in The Raven in the near future. And I’m tempted to take the ukulele-​building class from the Guitar Workshop. these guys know their stuff and make GREAT custom acoustic guitars.

Happy to be a part of what was later discovered to be the first and only Menabrea Presents master class here in Glasgow. It was a great night with great beers, great food, great company and great chat about guitars.
Having grown up in a musical family, I was super keen on attending this presentation from The Guitar Workshop (located in Finneston).
When we first arrived, we were greeted by friendly Raven staff who marked us off the guest list and headed to a table which sat a few other Unilocalers. Almost instantly, another friendly Raven staff quickly came over to introduce himself and to offer us beers a flowing. Since Menabrea sponsored the night, we were able to drink our fill of both of their blonde and amber beers. I’m not much of a darker beer fan, so I stuck with the blonde option and was pleased beyond belief! What a smooth beer– definitely a fan for sure.
On top of the free flowing beers, we were offered a wide selection of yummy treats. To start, bruchetta, which was lovely bread, piled high with fresh ingredients. Next, a duo of sliders– one, you’re typical hamburger on a lovely brioche bun, the second was a mac and cheese burger. Curious about this one, I thought it was going to be more of a burger with mac and cheese on top, but it was literally a fried patty of mac and cheese… on a brioche bun. Basically heaven in my mouth. Next we were offered loads of BBQ wings, which were super tasty and cooked to perfection. Nachos and loaded skinny fries were also on offer– the least of my favourites, but I still managed to pack some away. The tortilla chips were not my favourite, as they were pretty much like a deep fried pita chip– soggy and crispy (if that makes sense). The skinny fries were ok, but with all the toppings overloading them, they were a bit on the soggy side by the time we ate them. Otherwise, the food was great and went down a treat.
Soon after we wiped our mouths and hands, we were asked to make our way in to a smaller side room to guarantee a seat for the discussion. I’m glad our table took the initiative to make a move right then, as the room filled up fast and ended up being more of standing room only after we all got our seats situated.
The chat started out with a bit of history about Menabrea and how it’s only really starting to show face here in Glasgow quite recently. After a brief introduction, the guys from The Guitar Workshop went through a pretty brief description of how they work and what sorts of woods they use on their guitars. Everything from African to Mexican woods are used and are hand picked and crafted in their studio in Finneston. Samples of woods were passed around for us to look at, and one bit of wood even had mother of pearl in it. Along with the discussion, music was played which was amazing– very southern very bluesy. Brought me back to my American roots and the style of guitar my dad plays. It was really great.
All in all the night was wonderful. A lot of great food, and great chat about some pretty amazing hand crafted guitars. The guys invited everyone to ask questions and to even visit them in their shop in Finneston to see them in their element. I just might do.