Drink better without being teetotal! (4)
I believe the answer is:
beer
'drink' is the definition.
(beer is a kind of drink)
'better without being teetotal' is the wordplay.
'without' suggests deleting specific letters.
'being teetotal' becomes 'tt' (abbreviation).
'better' with 'tt' taken away is 'BEER'.
(Other definitions for beer that I've seen before include "See 4 down" , "Hop drink" , "Drink flavoured with hops" , "Drink using hops, malt, etc" , ""Give me a woman who loves __ and I will conquer the world" (Kaiser Wilhelm)" .)