Peculiar mixture of ale and spice (8)
I believe the answer is:
especial
'peculiar' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'mixture of ale and spice' is the wordplay.
'mixture of' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ale' put after 'spice' is 'spiceale'.
'spiceale' with letters rearranged gives 'ESPECIAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for especial that I've seen before include "CIE pleas can turn out to be distinctive" , "Exclusive" , "Over and above what is usually expected" , "particularly good" , "Exceptional" .)