The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 letter word REAL ALE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
R
E
A
L
A
L
E
More clues leading to the result REAL ALE
- Concerned with a foreign airline that’s brought up alcohol
- Are all sozzled imbibing English beer?
- ME airline, a casualty of America, turning bitter?
- Alcoholic drink consumed by Voltaire à la légère
- All are excited drinking English beer
- Eccentric earl needs adjustable legging elasticated tops for proper piss?
- Genuine trouble, reportedly, getting beer
- Having drunk a litre – about a litre – finally appreciate beer
- What discerning pubs offer on everything English one’s tucked into
- Agree, all awry, to give up good traditional drink
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Maybe stout" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case maybe stout = real 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.