Any good Friday night party during the summer months includes a plethora of beer- way too much to drink. Come Saturday morning, the task of dumping the extra half-drank beers or stashing the flats of unopened cans can be daunting (and upsetting..who wants to waste beer?).

Luckily, before you dump the excess down the drain, there are a few ways that you can use most of it up.

Make a marinade.

Everyone knows that wine is a great marinade additive. However, little do many people know, but beer is another fantastic, flavor-packed marinade ingredient.

Use it as a base and add soy sauce, vinegar, spices, hot sauce, chili, or any other ingredient that you see fit. Try your homemade marinade and, if it tastes good, chances are that tomorrow night’s dinner will taste great soaked in it.

Bake some bread.

Although the name of this doesn’t sound particularly appealing, the end product is.

By “make beer bread” we mean that when making a loaf of homemade bread, try soaking the dry ingredients in a light beer, allowing them to soak up all of the liquid before continuing to follow your bread recipe. The end result is a heavy, slightly malty bread.

Get out the fondue pot.

Fondue is a heavenly mixture of cheese and spices – but it can be made even better with the addition of Friday night’s beer. Saute your garlic and shallots with your favorite beer before adding your other ingredients: spices and cheese.

Dip pieces of crusty bread into your beer-infused fondue and enjoy.

Get creative with mixed drinks.

Beer probably isn’t what you think of when you think of cocktails or mixed drinks. This being said, though, that leftover beer can be used instead of expensive liquor for a variety of tasty, hand mixed cocktails.

For example, the remnants of a light beer mixed with sparkling lemonade or a Mexican beer mixed with hot sauce, lime juice, and decorated with a spicy chili rim. You could also use beer in a punch along with or instead of wine or vodka.

Mix it with seasonal flavored juice and just the right amount of sugar and sit back to relax.

Elevate your sausages.

Sausages are awesome on their own. When simmered in beer before being grilled, though, they’re taken to a whole new level. The best part? How simple this trick is.

All you have to do is simmer your sausages in your favorite beer for 15 minutes before tossing them on the grill or barbeque until they showcase the highly desirable grill marks. Whoila! Tasty sausages with a boozy twist.

Be the batter king (or queen).

Homemade batters for fish and/or chicken can be improved by adding beer. The beer’s light flavor mixes perfectly with a few spices, some flour, and some salt and pepper. Then, when fried, becomes crunchy and delicious.

Hopefully some of the creative solutions above have peaked your interest. After all, no one wants to waste perfectly good, albeit flat, beer.