Fan needing to drink beer (9)
I believe the answer is:
supporter
'fan' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'to drink beer' is the wordplay.
'to drink' becomes 'sup' (I've seen this before).
'beer' becomes 'porter' (I've seen this in other clues).
'sup'+'porter'='SUPPORTER'
'needing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for supporter that I've seen before include "One helping" , "Stay" , "Second" , "Strut" , "Champion" .)