Wine Authorities in Raleigh! Grand Opening on Person Street last weekend

Last weekend was the Grand Opening of the 2nd location for Wine Authorities, near downtown Raleigh, in the new Person Street Plaza. This is definitely a welcome addition to the Mordecai and Oakwood communities.  Wine Authorities is located near Yellow Dog Bakery. Wine Authorities offers 24 wines on tap, as well as local beer on tap. There is a large deli case with cheese, meat and they are selling fresh baked bread from Yellow Dog! Great selection of wines and cold beer in the fridge.

Saturday hosted the folks from Ponysaurus (I was thrilled to get to sample their amazing beers), Yellow Dog, Scratch, Piedmont Wine Imports, SlingShot coffee, Pie Pushers and even a magician for the kids (and adults!).

Despite the wet, windy weather (and tornado warnings apparently!) the turnout was great, the place was packed and its pretty guaranteed that this spot will soon be one of Raleigh's great places to shop, eat, drink and gather!

Tasty treats from Scratch

Fresh baked croissant from Yellow Dog Bakery

Slingshot Coffee!

Local chocolate from Videri and Escazu

Pie Pushers pushing pie in the weather!

Magical Entertainment!

Keeping up with the latest Raleigh music happenings

Sipping from Ponysaurus Brewery

Instagram Travel Thursday: InstaWalk Your City!

This past Sunday, we gathered in downtown Raleigh with several others to participate in a local InstaMeet get together. This is a regular event organized by some local folks, where people from all over Raleigh can meet up at a specified venue to  take pictures and post them to Instagram. Using the #InstawalkRaleigh hashtag, you can then see all the pictures that everyone took as we take the time to explore part of the city. Its a great way to meet new people especially those who share a common interest in photography, their city and Instagram.

As it turned out, this past weekend was also the 8th worldwide Instameet. What is so great about this is that at the same time that a big group of us were exploring and taking pictures of Raleigh's Warehouse District and Boylan Bridge area, other people from many different cities in the world were doing the same thing! Posts popped up from Rome, Paris, Toronto, Detroit, San Diego, Copenhagen, you name it, they were gathering and taking pictures. (You can see the other cities by searching on the hashtag #WWMI8.)  If there was ever a great use of social media, this is definitely one of them.

We had a big group of folks of all ages that gathered Sunday at the Boylan Bridge and we took a group shot and then started our walk through, down and around the Warehouse District. It was a beautiful sunny day and we loved getting out in our city and sharing a little part of it to the world.

Our two teen daughters loved it too. They proceeded to get some great photos of the area! This is one time our whole family can be on their phones and cameras and no one is bothered by it. We shared our shots of the city through each of our own perspectives.

Looking back at everyone's photos, it's interesting what detail or interesting feature someone caught and you may have just walked by without noticing. You can see last weekend's pictures if you go to your Instagram and search for the #InstaWalkRaleigh hashtag. You can also check this hashtag if you are interested in finding out where and when the next InstaWalk in Raleigh will be taking place.

If you would like to check out more Raleigh pictures, feel free to follow me on Instagram @RaleighWhatsUp and join us at the next InstaWalk Raleigh!

More info: http://www.meetup.com/Instagram/

This post is part of Instagram Travel Thursday hosted by Skimbaco Lifestyle,Child Mode, Live.Do.Grow., Luxury Travel Mom, Destination Unknown, Hines Sight Blog, and House of Anais.

Bombshell: NEW Triangle Brews!

Last week I got word that a new brewery was opening their taproom this past Saturday in the Triangle area (thanks @919beer!), so I grabbed a girlfriend and trekked out to this new brewery for a taste. The newest brewery to open their doors, Bombshell Beer Company, is located in the heart of Holly Springs. This was a bit of a journey for me since I'm over in North Raleigh but with my handy GPS, I had no problem finding it (and its literally right off the new Triangle Expressway).

I  arrived around 3pm, following a long line of cars pulling into the industrial park where the brewery is located and found the place swarming! The 1400 square foot tap room was full of craft beer lovers young and old! I thought it was very exciting to see such a great turnout and so much local support. Bombshell Beer Company is woman-owned and the owners were behind the bar serving beers as fast as they could pour them! Bombshell is owned and run by Ellen Joyner, Jackie Hudspeth and Michelle Miniutti, home brewers following their dreams with plenty of beer brewing experience! Award winning Head Brewer Steve O'Neill, joined the team from Pittsburgh, PA.

Bombshell had five beers on tap Saturday including their Batch 1 Pale Ale, JEMS Jade Pale Ale, Dirty Secret Dry Stout, Polished Pilsner and Pickup Line Porter. All beers tout ABVs in the 4.5-5.65% range which is something I appreciate very much in a craft beer...great quality taste but not crazy strong on alcohol content.

I sampled the two Pale Ales and the Stout. I'm a hop fan and the Pale Ales were both delicious (loved the Jade pale ale)! The stout had great flavor and nice smokey notes.  I hope to see some of Bombshell's beers on tap at local restaurants/bars very soon this year!

Bombshell Beer Company's official Grand Opening is January 25th and they are located at 120 Quantum Dr, Holly Springs.

• Thursday & Friday 4pm to 8pm
• Saturday 12 to 6pm

Get out and drink local! Check out Bombshell Beer Co! I look forward to visiting them again very soon!