The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 8 letter word ITALIAN VERMOUTH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
T
A
L
I
A
N
V
E
R
M
O
U
T
H
More clues leading to the result ITALIAN VERMOUTH
- It replaced aerial in TV, say
- It is the man I outrival going mad
- Lastly, shake anti-viral fluid before opening it
- It’s unusual, Marilyn, but not unknown — have it out
- What you can drink? That’s it!
- It expanded into hate mail with virtue – oddly perverse
- Drink – two words for it!
- It could be Gordon’s partner
- Tragically ma, in truth, I love a drink!
- As part of alcoholic mixture, it expanded
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "It’" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case it’ = italian vermouth.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.