Crossword Genius

Hotel serving beer that's quite robust (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hale

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'robust' is the definition.
(in good health)

'hotel serving beer that's quite' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'hotel' could be 'h' (phonetic alphabet) and 'h' is found in the answer.
'beer' could be 'ale' (type of beer) and 'ale' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hale that I've seen before include "Well" , "Showing vigorous good health" , "Sound of body" , "Healthy and robust" , "Strong and healthy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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