pay him back in beer or pay him back with beer

I'm reading a book. There's a sentence 'Do you have that friend who will only let you pay him back in beer?'

I wonder would be there any change in meaning if it's written as 'pay him back with beer'?

I don't think there's much difference, but when talking about currency types (and the beer is being used as a currency type here), it's better to use 'in'.

"Pay him in dollars"
"Pay her in pounds"

etc.