Drink in can to be consumed by the start of spring (7)
I believe the answer is:
martini
'drink' is the definition.
(martini is a kind of drink)
'can to be consumed by the start of spring' is the wordplay.
'can' becomes 'tin' (both are metal containers).
'to be consumed by' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters get consumed).
'the start of spring' becomes 'mari' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tin' inserted within 'mari' is 'MARTINI'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for martini that I've seen before include "Cocktail of gin and dry vermouth" , "Gin or vodka with dry vermouth" , "rifle" , "obtained from a bottle" , "tipple" .)