How to Fish Beer Can Guide: How to Get and Use It
The Beer Can in How to Fish is both a consumable and the starting item for a special fishing lure. Regular Beer can restore health, while giving one to the Lighthouse Keeper turns it into the Empty Beer Can needed for the Who Stole My Beer quest.
The important detail is that these are technically two different items. You cannot attach the unopened Beer directly to your fishing rod. It must first be emptied by the Lighthouse Keeper and returned to you as a lure.
Jump To Section:
Where To Get The Beer Can
How To Get The Empty Beer Can
How To Equip The Beer Can Lure
What The Beer Can Catches
Why The Beer Can Is Not Working
What Regular Beer Does
Where To Get A Beer Can In How To Fish
The regular Beer Can is sold at the shop for $12. You only need to purchase one to progress the Lighthouse Keeper’s quest, so I would not spend extra money buying several cans at the beginning of the game.
The quest becomes available after the tutorial when you speak with the Lighthouse Keeper. He explains that a long-legged creature has been stealing his beer and asks you to use an empty can to catch it.
I recommend accepting the quest before buying the Beer so the complete exchange is ready when you return. Once you have the can, take it directly back to the Lighthouse Keeper instead of trying to equip it.
How To Turn Beer Into The Empty Beer Can
Return to the Lighthouse Keeper with the $12 Beer Can in your inventory. Select the Beer and throw it to him. He will drink or empty it before returning the item as the Empty Beer Can.
This returned version is the actual quest lure. The regular Beer appears as a usable inventory item, while the Empty Beer Can belongs with the equipment you can attach to your fishing rod.
The complete conversion is therefore:
Buy one Beer Can from the shop, return to the Lighthouse Keeper, select the Beer from your inventory, throw it to him, and collect the Empty Beer Can he gives back.
How To Equip The Empty Beer Can
Open your fishing equipment after receiving the can and change the active lure to the Empty Beer Can. Merely carrying the item does not affect what you catch; it must occupy the lure slot on your rod.
Once equipped, cast normally into the water near the lighthouse. You do not need a different casting method, a special fishing location, or several empty cans. The item itself changes the catch connected to the quest.
I would prepare for combat before making this cast. The Knife costs $45 and is the simplest weapon for completing the encounter that follows. There is no need to purchase an expensive firearm solely for this early quest, although the How to Fish best gun tier list covers which ranged weapons are worth buying later.
What Does The Empty Beer Can Catch?
The Empty Beer Can catches the Spider Crab responsible for stealing the Lighthouse Keeper’s drinks. Regular fishing lures continue producing ordinary catches, which is why the Empty Beer Can is required even if you already know the culprit’s identity.
After catching and defeating the Spider Crab, pick up its remains and return them to the Lighthouse Keeper. This completes Who Stole My Beer, rewards the keys to his boat, and satisfies the related achievement requirement covered in the How to Fish achievements guide.
The Beer Can’s involvement ends once it has successfully served as the lure. The longer combat sequence is secondary to this item guide; the key preparation is simply having the $45 Knife ready before casting.
Why Is The Beer Can Not Working?
If the Beer Can does not appear among your fishing lures, check whether you still have the unopened version. A Beer purchased from the shop does not become a lure automatically and cannot be equipped until the Lighthouse Keeper empties it.
If the Lighthouse Keeper is not taking it, make sure you have spoken to him after the tutorial and started Who Stole My Beer. Then select the Beer from your inventory and throw it toward him rather than leaving it unused in your inventory.
If you continue catching normal fish, reopen the fishing equipment and confirm that Empty Beer Can is selected as the active lure. Receiving the item and equipping it are separate steps.
The most common order-related mistakes are buying Beer without starting the quest, attempting to equip the unopened can, forgetting to collect the returned empty can, or casting with the previous lure still selected.
What Does Regular Beer Do?
Beer is not exclusively a quest item. A regular can can restore health when consumed, but it may also reduce your food meter. I treat it as emergency healing rather than a replacement for eating before a difficult encounter.
That tradeoff becomes more important later, when healing during a boss fight may be worth losing some food. The How to Fish Pufferfish boss guide covers an encounter where preparing food first and keeping Beer for emergency health recovery is the safer approach.
For the Lighthouse Keeper quest, keep the process simple: buy one Beer for $12, let the Lighthouse Keeper turn it into the Empty Beer Can, attach it to your rod, and cast. Buy additional Beer afterward only if you specifically want its health recovery effect.
