Hot meal enlivened with a drop of neat alcohol (8)
I believe the answer is:
methanol
'alcohol' is the definition.
(methanol is a kind of alcohol)
'hot meal enlivened with a drop of neat' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'hot' could be 'h' and 'h' is found within the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for methanol that I've seen before include "Dangerous product" , "Form of alcohol" , "Toxic alcohol" , "Wood spirit" .)