If there’s a downside to tasting a wide variety of beers, it’s what to do with the ones you don’t care for. Luckily, there are a lot of options.
Eventually it happens. You’ve got bottles left over that are just not to your taste. You’d pour them out, but you hate to pour money down the drain. Now what?
If it’s suitable for cellaring, experiment with aging the beer. Maybe in 6 months or a year, you’ll like it better. If not, all you’re out is a little space while the bottles sit around.
Maybe you can trade them for something you like better. On sites such as BeerAdvocate.com, RateBeer.com or BeerMe.com, you will often run into beer enthusiasts looking for beers they can’t find in their area. You’ll have the expense of shipping, but you can end up with a beer you might never be able to try in other circumstances.
What if you can’t even give it away? Cheer up, there are quite a few uses for that beer! First, remind yourself that you are not wasting beer. If you don’t like it, you won’t drink it, and it will simply sit in the refrigerator or on the shelf. Now, that’s wasting beer, so put it to use instead.
Cook with it - Beer makes a great tenderizer for tough, inexpensive cuts of meat. Poke a few holes in the meat and pour the beer over it, letting it marinate for at least an hour, or better, overnight. Pale ales can be substituted for white wine in recipes (stir it to remove the carbonation), while brown ales add a nice flavor when used instead of water to cook rice. And of course, there’s beer can chicken.
Use it in the yard – Bury a shallow dish of beer up to its lip in your garden. Snails and slugs are attracted to the beer, fall in and get stuck. Empty and refill your trap daily. Bees are also attracted to beer. Before your next backyard bar-b-que, put several containers of beer at the boundaries of your yard, away from the festivities. Bees will be attracted to them rather than your picnic. Beer even makes a good fertilizer for your plants!
Clean up – Use flat beer on wood furniture. Just wipe it on with a soft cloth, using another dry cloth to wipe it off. A bit of beer on a soft cloth also cleans gold jewelry (but not gemstones), or copper bottomed pots.
Use it as a beauty aid – Homemade beer shampoo will leave your hair extra soft, and give it added body. Mix a raw egg with half a bottle of beer and massage it into your hair. Rinse and style as usual. Dark beers also work well for beer baths. Add several to your bath and enjoy a good soak – the yeasts are good for softening and soothing the skin.
