Youth's twisted hooch lid, beginning to drink (9)
I believe the answer is:
childhood
'youth's' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'twisted hooch lid beginning to drink' is the wordplay.
'twisted' indicates anagramming the letters.
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'drink' is 'd'.
'hooch'+'lid'='hoochlid'
'hoochlid' with letters rearranged gives 'childhoo'.
'childhoo'+'d'='CHILDHOOD'
(Other definitions for childhood that I've seen before include "Between infancy and adolescence" , "Early years" , "Time of immaturity" , "Extreme youth" , "Immature state" .)