Whiskey taken before degenerate conduct (4)
I believe the answer is:
wage
'conduct' is the definition.
(both can mean to carry out)
'whiskey taken before degenerate' is the wordplay.
'whiskey' becomes 'W' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'taken before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'degenerate' becomes 'age' (ageing is a kind of degenerating).
'w'+'age'='WAGE'
(Other definitions for wage that I've seen before include "Carry on - remuneration" , "Pay (enough to live on?)" , "something to do with war?" , "practise" , "Pursue" .)