Gifted toughie consuming beer and books (8)
I believe the answer is:
talented
'gifted' is the definition.
('talented' can be a synonym of 'gifted')
'toughie consuming beer and books' is the wordplay.
'toughie' becomes 'ted' (Ted is an example).
'consuming' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'beer' becomes 'ale' (I've seen this before).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'books' becomes 'nt' (New Testament).
'ale'+'nt'='alent'
'ted' going around 'alent' is 'TALENTED'.
(Other definitions for talented that I've seen before include "Naturally gifted" , "Skilled" , "Showing a natural aptitude" , "Having special or great ability" , "Having a natural aptitude or skill" .)