Excellent way to open drink (4)
I believe the answer is:
asti
'drink' is the definition.
(Asti is a type of wine)
'excellent way to open' is the wordplay.
'excellent' becomes 'ai' (resembles 'A1', old-fashioned term for excellent).
'way' becomes 'st' (abbreviation for street).
'to open' indicates putting letters inside (some letters create an opening in a word).
'ai' going around 'st' is 'ASTI'.
(Other definitions for asti that I've seen before include "town in Italy" , "White wine named after a town in Piedmont" , "Italian white wine" , "Alcohol" , "Italian 'sparkler'" .)