Crossword Genius

Force nine given very alcoholic brew to drink gallon (6,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strong gale

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'force nine given very alcoholic' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both types of natural phenomena as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'brew to drink gallon' is the wordplay.
'brew' becomes 'ale' (ale is a kind of brew).
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'drink' becomes 'strong' (strong drink is a kind of drink**).
'gallon' becomes 'g' (abbreviation for the unit of liquid).
'strong'+'g'='strongg'
'ale' after 'strongg' is 'STRONG GALE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for strong gale that I've seen is " blow!".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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