British company first gets soldiers Indian beer (5)
I believe the answer is:
cobra
'indian beer' is the definition.
(Indian beer brand)
'british company first gets soldiers' is the wordplay.
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC').
'company' becomes 'co' (abbreviation).
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'gets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'soldiers' becomes 'ra' (abbreviation for Royal Artillery).
'b' put after 'co' is 'cob'.
'cob'+'ra'='COBRA'
(Other definitions for cobra that I've seen before include "Hooded ophidian" , "Reptile (found in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A?)" , "hamadryad" , "Highly venomous hooded reptile" , "One with hood" .)