Former politician in drink's giving specimens! (8)
I believe the answer is:
examples
'specimens' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'former politician in drink's' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'ex'.
'politician' becomes 'mp'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'drink's' becomes 'ales' (ale is a kind of drink).
'mp' put within 'ales' is 'amples'.
'ex'+'amples'='EXAMPLES'
'giving' is the link.
(Other definitions for examples that I've seen before include "Expels ma for pieces of conduct worthy of imitation" , "They illustrate general rules" , "Illustrative warnings" , "Representative samples" , "Things characteristic of their kind" .)