Illicit drink about to be removed, leading to a kerfuffle (3-2)
I believe the answer is:
hoo-ha
'a kerfuffle' is the definition.
(both can mean a disturbance or commotion)
'illicit drink about to be removed leading' is the wordplay.
'illicit drink' becomes 'hooch' (illicitly produced alcohol).
'about' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for circa).
'to be removed' is a deletion indicator.
'leading' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hooch' with 'c' removed is 'hooh'.
'hooh'+'a'='HOO-HA'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for hoo-ha that I've seen before include "Fuss (informal)" , "Big fuss" , "In slang, it's a commotion" , "Song and dance" , "great deal of fuss" .)