Craving alcoholic drink for five years (7)
I believe the answer is:
lustrum
'five years' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'craving alcoholic drink' is the wordplay.
'craving' becomes 'lust' (I've seen this in another clue).
'alcoholic drink' becomes 'rum' (alcoholic spirit).
'lust'+'rum'='LUSTRUM'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for lustrum that I've seen before include "several years" , "Five-year period" , "Period of five years" , "Period of 20 ac years" .)