The French and German drink (5)
I believe the answer is:
lager
'drink' is the definition.
(lager is a kind of drink)
'the french and german' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'german' becomes 'ger' (abbreviation**).
'la'+'ger'='LAGER'
(Other definitions for lager that I've seen before include "Light-coloured beer" , "African camp" , "Light-bodied beer" , "Lout's drink?" , "light ale" .)