Excitement of American after short drink (5)
I believe the answer is:
drama
'excitement' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american after short drink' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'short drink' becomes 'dram' (I've seen this in another clue).
'a' after 'dram' is 'DRAMA'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for drama that I've seen before include "Theatrical entertainment" , "Tragic situation" , "theatre studies" , "Work to be performed by actors" , "interesting spectacles?" .)