If you want to avoid salt around your plants and would rather drink the beer, spread diatomaceous earth liberally around your plants. It's the crushed silicaceous shells of freshwater diatoms, the equivalent of ground glass. It's harmless to people, pets and beneficial insects because it's chemically inert, but when slugs and snails move through it they cut themselves up and bleed out.
Using bait to get rid of something has always struck me as odd. Also dead slugs attract slugs. I am not sure why but I think it is grosser than you first imagine.