The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 3 letter word GINGER ALE
G
I
N
G
E
R
A
L
E
More clues leading to the result GINGER ALE
- Soldier and general getting drunk? Not on this
- Genial Reg mixed drink
- Drink with soldier
- Drink from bootlegging era legitimised
- Blow, that’s hard, keeping 11 without a drink
- Drink that may get one general drunk by end of evening
- Scrambled egg in real drink
- Drink that may get soldier and general drunk
- …and fifty agreeing to mix the drink…
- After three drinks, the French go for something non-alcoholic
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Drink" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case drink = ginger ale.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.