Fear being late, drinking last of beer (5)
I believe the answer is:
dread
'fear' is the definition.
('dread' can be a synonym of 'fear')
'late drinking last of beer' is the wordplay.
'late' becomes 'dead' ('dead' can be similar in meaning to 'late').
'drinking' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'last of' indicates one should take the final letters.
The final letter of 'beer' is 'r'.
'dead' placed around 'r' is 'DREAD'.
'being' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dread that I've seen before include "Frightful" , "Apprehensive fear" , "Fearful expectation" , "Anticipate fearfully" , "Affright" .)