Passage, I hear, is in the midst of alcohol (5)
I believe the answer is:
aisle
'passage' is the definition.
(aisle can mean a path or passageway)
'i hear is in the midst of alcohol' is the wordplay.
'i hear' becomes 'is' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is in the midst of' indicates putting letters inside.
'alcohol' becomes 'ale' (type of beer).
'is' put inside 'ale' is 'AISLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aisle that I've seen before include "Path between seats in church" , "Supermarket section" , "Passage between seating blocks" , "Passage between pews" , "Passage between seating areas" .)