Naively optimistic, continued drinking whiskey next to Romeo (6-4)
I believe the answer is:
starry-eyed
'naively optimistic' is the definition.
(starry-eyed can mean idealistic)
'continued drinking whiskey next to romeo' is the wordplay.
'continued' becomes 'stayed' ('stay' can be a synonym of 'continue').
'drinking' is an insertion indicator.
'whiskey' becomes 'rye' (rye whiskey is a type of whiskey).
'next to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'romeo' becomes 'R' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'rye' put after 'r' is 'rrye'.
'stayed' enclosing 'rrye' is 'STARRY-EYED'.
(Other definitions for starry-eyed that I've seen before include "Out of touch with reality" , "Naively idealistic" , "Naively enthusiastic" , "Romantically optimistic" , "Full of unsophisticated optimism" .)