March Madness, like most big sporting events, has become a free-for-all of food options. But just because the Madison Avenue crowd tries to pump your eyes and ears full of pizza, tacos and subs, you don’t have to fill your belly with that commercially made food (and I use the word “food” loosely). So here are a few options to try and mix things up in your own kitchen, literally.

TANGY SWEET SOY-LIME WINGS

I’ve been trying to create and perfect various wing recipes, and lately I’ve been into the sweet, tangy and spicy notes of Asian flavors, so here is the most ambitious of this group of recipes.

Ingredients:

¼ cup each soy sauce
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup sake (rice wine)
¼ cup brown sugar
1 inch piece of ginger, trimmed and chopped fine
5 lb. bag chicken wing sections (if frozen, thaw in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before using)
¼ cup vegetable oil (such as canola or peanut oil), divided
Salt and pepper to taste
Sriracha hot sauce to taste
Juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup chopped roasted peanuts
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and ginger in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven on medium heat. Lay wings on a large platter or a few plates and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When you put your hand about 2 inches from the oil and can feel the heat, add half of the wings, skin side down. Sear for about four minutes per side and remove to another plate. Repeat with remaining oil, wings and salt/pepper, but after searing the second batch, return the rest of the wings to the pot, and dump in the sauce. Turn down the heat and cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove cover, and let simmer another five minutes, until sauce is reduced and thick. Using tongs, carefully remove wings to a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until browned and crispy. Remove wings to a plate, drizzle with some of the remaining sauce in the pan and Sriracha, and sprinkle with lime juice, peanuts and cilantro.

TRIO OF FAT FINGER SANDWICHES

People like tea-like finger sandwiches. They are also the food of choice for many fancy cocktail parties. But for dudes like us, they should be called something that reflects our caveman instincts, hence the name “fat finger sandwiches.” For the purpose of making this easy for you (and me), I’ll show you how to make about four sandwiches at a time, and you can multiply out as necessary.

Crispy Cristo Sandwich

Is it even worth saying that this may be the single most delicious thing I have ever made or tasted? Because, well, it really was. And after wrestling with the idea that I would have to figure out how to butter the donuts, I realized that with the sugar glaze, the donut as “bread” would become crisp on its own.

Ingredients:

Butter
4 glazed donuts, preferably Krispy Kreme
4 thin slices smoked deli ham
4 slices yellow American cheese
Cooking spray

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and throw in a pat of butter. Slice each donut, lay a slice of ham and then cheese on the bottom and replace with the top, and then place donut sandwich in the skillet and press down with a spatula. Repeat with all donuts, and when bottom begins to brown (about 60 to 90 seconds), flip the sandwich over and cook for another 45 seconds to a minute. Move to a plate as is or slice in half or quarters.

Pizza Bagel and Sausage Slider

Another super easy and tasty snack.

Ingredients:

1-2 links (fully cooked) smoked Italian sausage, sliced
8 small pizza bagels

Directions:

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, fry sausage slices on each side until brown and crispy, then drain on paper towels. Meanwhile, bake pizza bagels according to package directions. Let cool a few minutes, then put a few slices of sausage on four of the bagel halves and top with remaining bagel halves.

Chicken and Wafflewich

I’ve been semi-obsessed with this classic combo lately, and this is about as simple as it gets.

Ingredients:

6-8 small breaded chicken strips
4 double maple waffles (such as Eggo)
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. hot sauce
2 pats butter

Directions:

Bake chicken strips according to package directions and set aside. Meanwhile, combine syrup and hot sauce in a small bowel. Toast waffles and spread butter on each slice. Then, top two waffles with chicken strips and drizzle with syrup. Top with other waffles (they should be those waffles that are perforated that you can break into four large finger sandwiches) and serve.

PIMENTO CHEESE CANOES

Because you need some vegetables (well, maybe not!), here is an easy and tasty way to put three food groups together.

Ingredients:

1 bunch celery
½ cup pimento cheese (in a jar, looks like cream cheese)
Handful of slivered toasted almonds (Trader Joe’s has them pre-toasted like this)

Directions:

Wash and trim celery, leaving them as long “canoes.” Spread cheese on each and sprinkle with almonds.

BLOODY MIKEY SHOOTER

I imagine this would be a kickass hangover cure, although I haven’t tested that theory just yet.

Ingredients:

½ cup tomato juice or vegetable juice
1 Tbsp. Buffalo wing sauce
1 Tbsp. hot pickled cherry pepper juice
Juice of half a lime

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small juice glass and stir. Drink up! (Note: This makes one shooter, but you can use this guideline to make as many as you want).

During his playing career, Joe Horn was an electrifying receiver who made play after play even though opposing defenses were keyed in on him week after week. Horn became a fan favorite during a career which saw him set the Saints career mark in touchdowns and make the Pro Bowl four times in five seasons. But what the fans loved even more than his production was the way he played and fought for every inch every time he had the ball.

Even though his playing career is over, “Hollywood” Horn is grinding it out in a different arena: the business world.

“I knew I’d go into business but I didn’t know what venue I’d go into,” said the Saints 2010 Hall of Fame inductee. “So when I retired, everyone thinks they can barbecue, so my brother said, ‘Joe you need to put this in a bottle man. Let people taste this.’ I love to barbecue. This is my product. I stand by it. I guarantee it.”

Building something from the ground up is nothing new to Horn. After playing two years at tiny Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Mississippi, Horn found himself working at a Bojangles restaurant in Fayetteville, Mississippi with no prospects of playing football as a career. Down to the final $6 in his possession, Horn spent $3.99 on a Jerry Rice workout video from a local Blockbuster and studied the drills and moves Rice performed in the video. Horn then made a highlight video of himself working out and sent the tape to multiple professional teams across America and Canada. One response Horn received was from the Memphis Mad Dogs of the CFL, who offered him a contract after viewing the tape and in his first year accumulated 1,414 yards on 71 catches. The rest is history.

But what set Horn apart from other players during his career was his love and appreciation for the fans, something which is still evident to this day. The impact he made for the Saints organization and the city of New Orleans in the post-Katrina aftermath is something residents of New Orleans will never forget. The first $2,500 Horn made off of Bayou 87 was donated to the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, after just three weeks of selling the sauce.

“I grew up in a single family home,” Horn said. “My mother raised me. The first opportunity I had to give back, that’s the first organization I reached out to.”

Since the end of 2011, Joe and his business partner Greg Tolver have been travelling around the country making in-store appearances, meeting fans and promoting the sauce. At a stop at Rouse’s Market in Lafayette, Louisiana on Super Bowl Sunday, anyone who purchased a case of Bayou 87 was eligible for a drawing at the end of the promotion. The winner received tickets to next season’s first Saints game, a pregame visit to the field, a visit to the skybox and VIP area, and the opportunity to watch the entire game with Joe. Joe remains as committed to his fans as ever.

Bayou 87 is available in two flavors: Classic Flavor and Cajun Classic Flavor. I tried both flavors on some chicken I barbequed on the grill, after I marinated it for about three hours. Prior to tasting Bayou 87, Sweet Baby Ray’s had been my default BBQ sauce of choice because it wasn’t that expensive and it tasted pretty good. But upon comparing it to Bayou 87, there was an immediate difference, not only in taste, but in texture of the sauce; I never noticed how runny Sweet Baby Ray’s was until I compared it to Bayou 87. Not only was it a thicker sauce (thanks to not being loaded with just sugar), but it also had bits of real seasoning that added even more flavor. The thickness of Bayou 87 also made it an ideal marinade, because the sauce sticks to the meat and doesn’t run off to the side so you have to constantly re-apply or flip the meat. Also, the sauce retails for only $2.99 a bottle, which is amazing considering how superior it is to the similarly priced Sweet Baby Ray’s.

One bite into the chicken, I could immediately tell the difference; it really added to the flavor of the meat. I slathered more on the chicken after it was done cooking and it was amazingly good. It was sweet but not sugary and had a nice kick to it. It wasn’t hot or spicy but was full bodied. Both flavors (Classic and Cajun Classic) include natural ingredients like red ripe tomatoes, dried onions and dried garlic. The Classic has an immediate kick to your taste buds and is immediately augmented with a sweet taste. The Cajun Classic Flavor is definitely a spicier blend and brings a little more heat and kick, which you’d expect from any Cajun sauce worth its salt.

Check out Joe Horn’s Bayou 87 BBQ Sauce at http://www.joehornbbq.com/. And follow Joe on both Twitter (@JoeHorn87) and on Facebook. Joe answers all Tweets he receives and does as much on Facebook as he can, a point that Joe emphasized.

“I love my fans and wouldn’t be anywhere without them.” He’s also making personal appearances every week to sign autographs, take pictures and let fans try the sauce.

“People ask me all the time on Twitter if this is the “real” Joe Horn. And I tell ‘em the same thing every time: 6-1, 212 pounds of twisted steel with sex appeal. It’s your boy HOLLYWOOD 87!!”

We were on the road recently in Ventura, California, and we jumped at the opportunity to grab a legendary In-N-Out Burger. This wasn’t a new thing for us, but some of our friends had never tried these delicious concoctions. As you cans see from the photos, we went with the Double-Double burgers. It looks like many double hamburgers you’ll find today at other fast food spots, but the taste of this burger surpasses all of them and lives up to its legendary status. You can taste the quality of this burger, as you won’t find one sitting under a heat lamp. They use fresh beef and have their own patty making factory. By focusing on burgers and not cluttering the simple menu with chicken or other options, In-N-Out can deliver the goods over and over again.

While the burger was amazing, the French Fries were average at best and the shake was nothing special. Everything here revolves around the incredible burgers.

Another thing to keep in mind is In-N-Out Burger’s not-so-secret secret menu. You’ll see from the pics above that the official menu at In-N-Out Burger is very simple. Over the years, loyal fans have order all sorts of variations and some of them have become staples for customers who goes there regularly. The company published their own guide to some of these “secret” menu items here, and here’s one of many blog posts on the topic.

If you don’t live on the West Coast you’re SOL on this one. Just make sure you try them when you head out West.

Bullz-Eye tested the new Domino’s boneless chicken wings and regular chicken wings to see what all the hype was about. Our friend Phil over at Domino’s sent over a variety of different samples and we filled up on some good fair! Ever since the new Domino’s pizza hit the market last year we have been interested in the transformation at Domino’s and even took a trip to visit Domino’s headquarters in Michigan to get a behind the scenes look at what Domino’s did to change course with a vastly improved pizza.

Ok, This post is about the new Domino’s chicken wings so let’s get back on track. Domino’s sent over both boneless chicken and regular chicken wings in Hot, BBQ and Sweet Mango Habanero. The Domino’s chicken is billed as the next chapter in the Domino’s story of reinvention and we are happy to report this chicken is very good. My fellow chicken wing fanatics and I first noticed how tender the chicken was on the wings. Lean and tender was the best way to describe the new Domino’s wings and the flavors are vibrant and accurate. The favorite was the Sweet Mango Habanero and when dipped in the provided Ranch or blue cheese containers forget about it!

The new boneless wings are made with 100 percent whole white breast meat lightly breaded with savory herbs and they are simply delicious! The boneless chicken are not covered in sauce but rather they come with dipping sauces consisting of hot, BBQ and new Sweet Mango Habanero and of course ranch or blue cheese for dipping. All of the flavors were very good but again the new Sweet Mango Habanero ranked # 1 with our group.

Domino’s appears to have more winners on their hands (including alot of flavored sauce – ok just reached for a napkin and I’m good) and we look forward to getting our grub on with the new Domino’s all white breast meat boneless and regular wings while watching a good sporting event on the big screen. Hey, It’s the American Way!

Don’t forget to check out the Domino’s Pizza Bracket on Facebook. The company is down to the Final Four pizzas, competing to become the fan favorite pizza champion.

Last week, Yankee pitcher C.C. Sabathia made news when he explained that he lost 25 pounds during the off-season by kicking his Cap’n Crunch habit. “I used to eat it a box at a time,” he said.

Now, any fool knows that most breakfast cereals aren’t the best option if you’re looking to drop some pounds, so C.C. should have figured this out long ago. I interviewed C.C. after an Indians game in the locker room during his rookie season, and the towel around his waist could have been used as a tarp on the infield. The guy was huge.

That said, we can sympathize with the man, as most people know this stuff is incredibly addictive. We might not eat a box at a time like this 300+ pound athlete, but we’ve all been there where we couldn’t put the stuff down. You eat bowl after bowl, and then you can’t move for hours. The cereal companies know this so they spend millions on commercials trying to get you to try their stuff, hoping one bowl will get you hooked for life.

With that in mind I’ve put together my own list of the 11 most addictive breakfast cereals together with a commercial or related video. Most of this is a personal list, but I’ve added a few based on reputation alone, even though they aren’t my favorites.

11. Chocolate Cheerios

I happened to discover this new creation the day before the C.C. story broke. I’ve been laying off the sugary cereal for years except for brief moments of weakness, and I broke down when I saw this new creation at the drug store. The strange thing is that it’s not completely loaded with sugar, as it has fewer calories than many other addictive cereals. But the chocolate flavor makes this one incredible, and you just can’t stop eating it.

As for a commercial, we couldn’t find anything other than homemade tributes on YouTube, all of which were terrible.

10. Honey-Comb

They billed it as a big cereal with a big taste. The commercials sucked from what we can remember, and this one was particularly bad.

9. Crispix

This stuff isn’t that sweet, but it’s still addictive. The big selling point was that Crispix would stay crunchy in milk, and it certainly held up better than cereals like Golden Grahams, that would basically turn into a delicious mush. Here’s a spectacularly bad Crispix commercial.

8. Fruit Loops

You don’t really think of fruit when you eat this cereal. It’s pretty much a blast of sugar in all sorts of colors – more like candy. The commercials weren’t bad with Toucan Sam as the mascot. Some might prefer Fruity Pebbles, as it’s one of the soggy cereal classics, but I always preferred the Loops.

7. Frosted Flakes

This stuff basically tastes like pure sugar, but you can’t stop eating it after you start. The commercials were always a huge hit, with Tony the Tiger saying “They’re Grrrreat!” Here’s one of the oldest ones we found.

6. Apple Jacks

This is probably the best cereal out there with a big cinnamon taste. Here’s a classic commercial from way back when.

5. Corn Pops

I haven’t tried this stuff with the sweet corn flavor in years but I always loved it. This one should be inducted in the soggy hall of fame as well.

4. Cap’n Crunch

This one did in poor C.C. It’s never been one of my favorites, but countless people swear by it, and MrBreakfast.com named it the all-time greatest breakfast cereal. Here’s a great spoof of the Captain from “Family Guy.”

3. Honey Nut Cheerios

Before the Chocolate Cheerios came around, this favorite of Omar from “The Wire” was a longtime staple in my kitchen. Here’s one the early commercials with the jingle they milked for years.

2. Golden Grahams

It was tough keeping this one off the #1 spot, as the graham cracker taste is just incredible. As I explained above, these things get soggy pretty fast in milk, but they’re incredible when they’re crunchy and even when they become soggy. Here’s a pretty funny commercial without the annoying jingle.

1. Cocoa Puffs

Clearly, I have a real problem when it comes to chocolate – I can’t stop. By the time you get near the end of the bowl with Cocoa Puffs, you’re basically left with delicious chocolate milk. There are other brands that max out the chocolate flavor, like Count Chocula (one of the coolest cereal names ever), Cocoa Pebbles and Cocoa Krispies, but nothing tasted as good or as chocolaty as the Puffs. The commercials, on the other hand, were pretty lame….

We probably left off one of your favorites, so go ahead and slam us in the comments….

Part 4 – Pouring and Appreciation

I struggled for a long time to find an appropriate title for this post, and while I think I ultimately failed, this is about the most accurate I could muster. One of the problems with writing about, thinking about, and enjoying craft beer is that you’ll inevitably cross the threshold of quirky geek knowledge into douchey snob intellectualism in the eyes of your peers. To say that people need lessons on pouring and appreciating their beer plants me firmly in the latter camp, but I hope I can explain away a bit of the sour taste you no doubt have after reading my title.

Pouring and appreciating beer is nothing more than the kinetic evolution of a beer drinker’s potential energy. As you learn more about beer and the brewing process, you will, at some point, understand how varied and interesting beer can be. It seems simple, then, that not all beers can be tasted and assessed the same way. You wouldn’t take a Prius to the racetrack to test its quarter-mile, just like you wouldn’t complain that the Bugatti Veyron doesn’t get great gas mileage. Those are hyperbolic examples, but they make my point. That said, I apologize if any of this sounds patronizing, because parts of it likely will. If you’re wondering why I even write things like “hold the bottle at the shoulder,” then you’ve never seen a truly novice drinker attempt to open a bottle-fermented beer. It’s not pretty, and you can bet at least 50 percent of the room will become a beer-soaked casualty of shaky hands.

The Pour
The pour starts by opening the bottle (shocking!). Grip it firmly at the shoulder – the rounded part near the neck – and pop the top. This isn’t a big deal for most beers, but when you start to explore some high gravity, bottle-fermented ales, you’ll see just how temperamental a beer can be. Tilt the nose of the bottle into the center of the glass, forming a small head before angling the glass toward your bottle and pouring into the beer, close to the side of the glass. When possible, it’s best to avoid pouring the beer down the side of the glass. You want a bit of head, and most beers allow you to pour fairly vigorously before they overflow. Again, every beer is different, so some will require a more careful pour than others. The more your pour into the center of your glass, the more head you’ll encourage. If the head starts to get out of control, pour slowly toward the side of your glass until it balances out.

The purpose of a good pour is to activate the carbonation in your beer and produce a solid head. This will give you a nice bouquet, which is the aroma generated by your beer. As the bubbles in the head pop, they’ll release the unique scent that the combination of malt, hops, and yeast produce in your brew.

Some beers are best served in a glass that augments the natural qualities of the beer. Perhaps the most common example is Duvel, but you’ve probably seen special glassware for beers like Stella Artois, Leffe, and Sam Adams Boston Lager, too. The glassware certainly isn’t necessary to enjoy the beer, it can enhance the tasting experience. In the case of Duvel, the large bowl and fluted neck allow the beer to have large surface area and sustain a 3-inch head, even as you tilt the glass to your lips. The Stella glass aims the beer at the appropriate area of your tongue to enhance the crisp hop flavor. For those specialty beers, check with the brewery for pouring instructions. A-B InBev has instructions for pouring its specialty brews in the iLoveBeer iPhone app (iTunes Link).

Tasting
This is the simple part of enjoying a beer - you drink it! As far as tasting goes, there are very few rules. Whether you’re pairing it with food or just sampling some new stuff in front of a fire, tasting beer is always easy. Taste is subjective, so you can never really be wrong about what sticks out in your beer. Not everyone will agree with you, but if you taste hot garbage, well, so be it. I’ve always described Cantillon’s Iris lambic as having a distinct gym sock finish, but Fuller’s London Porter tastes like burnt caramel. Your descriptions will run the gamut, and if you keep a little tasting notebook, you’ll start to see trends in your own taste and be able to choose new beers accordingly.

There are a couple things to think on when tasting. First, you’ll stick your nose in the glass to get a whiff of the bouquet. Again, keep your descriptions simple. It doesn’t have to smell like fresh holly on the fourth day of winter. Pine trees, frost, vomit, biscuits – these are all perfectly acceptable nouns to describe the aroma your beer produces. Next, your tongue essentially tastes sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, so there’s no need to get crazy. The sweetness of a beer comes from residual sugar in the malt, while bitterness comes from the hop. The other flavors will be present in different beers for different reasons. Sometimes it’s the yeast strain, sometimes the length of fermentation. Focus on the taste to start and worry about the reason later. Lastly, think about the mouthfeel and body of the beer. Is it too foamy as you drink it? Do you feel like you’ll fall through the floor after half a glass? These things affect the quality of a beer as much as taste, and you’ll start to develop a preference for different qualities.

The most important part of tasting, though, is that you drink beer and enjoy it. Invite some friends over for a tasting party. Hit your local brewpub for a tour. Head down to your local beer store and grab something you’ve never seen before, and check back here next week to read about pairing beer with food. If you’ve missed one of our Beer 101 series, you can find them on this blog by checking out the Beer 101 tag. Also, don’t forget to visit the beer section of the Bullz-Eye mainsite. Cheers!

There are all kinds of drinks that make the holidays special and more enjoyable, but for many of us a good beer will always do the trick. Our beer aficionado Mike Barkacs put together a list of 5 holiday beers to consider as you stock up for the holiday weekend. His favorite is Corsendonk Christmas Ale:

I love Belgian beer any time of the year, so I had to have one on the list. I could have easily had five. The Corsendonk fits the Christmas beer mold perfectly. It is big, malty and complex. Just tons of flavor from every direction, but nicely balanced, as you’d expect from these guys. There is fruit, spice, grain and a healthy kick of alcohol. My only quibble, and it is minor, is there is maybe a touch too much anise in it for my licorice hating taste buds. Otherwise, it’s close to perfect. They spice it up, but there is so much more going on in this beer, that all the spice doesn’t feel overblown.

Whatever your preference, drink up, be safe and enjoy your holiday!

Part 3 – Beer Styles

When I set out to write this section of our Beer 101 series, I knew I was in for some work. There are nearly infinite styles of beer, and as the popularity of craft brewing has grown, we’ve seen a resurgence of near dead styles, the creation of new styles, and the advent of ‘imperial’ beer. That said, I want to give an overview of some of the most common styles and highlight a few of the more exotic beers so you can understand the scope of variety among beer styles.

Lager – This is the style we learned in high school, courtesy of the big American breweries and the most popular style of beer in the world. While some would call beer like Budweiser a pilsner, a pilsner is typically defined by a slight hoppy bitterness that cuts a portion of the malt character typical to lager-style beer. The distinction is very slight – after all, pilsner is a type of lager. The cold fermentation process used to create lager beer yields a nice, crisp flavor with a slight aftertaste.

Ale – This is going to be a more substantial subheading than lager because there are so many varieties of ‘ales’ in the world. Ale is widely defined as a malted barley beer, brewed with top-fermenting, fast-acting yeast that yields a sweet and fruity character, a bright, floral aroma and full-bodied mouthfeel. There are virtually endless varieties of ale, so we’ll only discuss a few.

Pale Ale – This is the beer known as a ‘bitter’ or ‘English bitter.’ It’s brewed with pale barley malt, typically a low- to mid-gravity brew with a highly complex finish. The flavor in pale ale is often heavily defined by the malt, and the best pale ales use the very best English or European malts. American malts are fine for lighter lager beers that are less about flavor and more about mouthfeel, but if you want some real character, you need better malt. Pale ales also have a bright aroma, thanks to the low-alpha hops added at the end of the brewing process. Low-alpha hops can be added in large quantities to impart some flavor on the beer without adding too much bitterness to your brew. I realize almost everything I’ve said here has been contradictory, so I’ll just say this: pale ales are all about balance.

Abbey/Trappist Ale – I group abbey ale and Trappist ale together because the brewing process and end product is nearly identical, the difference being that Trappist beers are brewed in Trappist monasteries by Trappist monks. This style of beer is top-fermented and often sweet and high in alcohol content. Some of the sweetness comes from the spices or candy sugar you can typically find in this style, and the rest comes from the alcohol. Perhaps the most prominent abbey ale is AB In-Bev’s Leffe, an amber-colored ale with a supersweet finish. Among the Trappist ales are Orval, Koningshoeven, Westvleteren, and of course, Chimay.

India Pale Ale (IPA) – The IPA has seen serious growth in popularity in America over the past decade. Brewers seem to be constantly releasing some epic IPA or another every month or two. The IPA style was invented so that beer could sustain long, oceanic voyages. The high hop content essentially safeguarded the beer against contaminants and also imparted delightful complexity with prolonged cellaring. IPAs are bitter to the max, though many also have a smooth, citrusy finish that pairs well with a wide variety of food.

Lambic – Lambics are a beer all their own. This brew is made using wild yeasts instead of cultivated ones, which can yield some interesting differences from batch to batch. Many lambics are also brewed with a portion of unmalted barley, which gives off a sour aftertaste not unlike a dry white wine. Lambics have been popularized in recent years by adding fruit sugar to cut the sour, funky taste of the beer. If you know anyone who drinks ‘Framboise,’ they’re really a Lambic drinker, though the Lindeman’s version is pretty far from the traditional style.

Wheat Beer – Wheat beer technically belongs to the ale category, but it has its own subset of special rules, and there are enough differences for it to stand alone. Wheat beers are, as you might have guessed, brewed with wheat malt, though they still contain malted barley. These beers are typically top-fermented and often appear hazy as the yeast settles during bottling and kegging. The most common styles of wheat beer are Belgian witbier (Belgian white ale) and German-style wheat. A witbier often employs unmalted wheat and spices – coriander, organe peel, and lemon zest are all popular – while a German-style white follows stricter guidelines: no spices, top fermentation only, and tightly controlled malt combinations.

That does it for our Beer 101: Beer Styles section. I could go on and on about styles I didn’t have space to mention. If you’re interested, dig around the web. There is a ton of information out there. If you’re just joining, be sure to head back through the past couple weeks for posts on the history of brewing and an overview of the brewing process. Next week we’re on to pouring and appreciation and in two weeks we’ll cover some guidelines for pairing beer with food.

If you’re like the rest of us, you ate way too much food yesterday, so more food might not be the first thing on your mind today. That said, many of you also have plenty of leftover turkey, and eating the leftovers can be just as enjoyable.

Last year, Mike Farley put together a great column in our Grub for Guys channel where he laid out some great ways to enjoy those turkey leftovers. Check out the great recipes for Turkey Breakfast Hash, Turkey Muffuletta, Turkey Antipasto Chopped Salad, Cheesy Broccoli Rice with Turkey and Day After Thanksgiving Pizza.

We’d like to wish all of our readers a Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully you’ll be spending the day with family and friends, enjoying tons of great food, football and maybe even a few cocktails.