Sot reaches beverage with hesitation (7)
I believe the answer is:
drinker
'sot' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'beverage with hesitation' is the wordplay.
'beverage' becomes 'drink' (drink is a kind of beverage).
'with hesitation' becomes 'er' (I've seen this in other clues).
'drink'+'er'='DRINKER'
'reaches' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for drinker that I've seen before include "Imbiber, toper" , "Consumer of liquid, probably alcohol" , "Tippler" , "Inebriate" .)