Golden cups about to be for this strong ale (7)
I believe the answer is:
october
'this strong ale' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'golden cups about to be' is the wordplay.
'golden' becomes 'or' ('or' is the name for gold in heraldry).
'cups' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are held or cupped).
'about' becomes 'c' (circa).
'c'+'to'+'be'='ctobe'
'or' going around 'ctobe' is 'OCTOBER'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for october that I've seen before include "Tenth month" , "some weeks" , "Strong ale" , "Russian Revolution month" , "Time for revolution" .)