Kovalam's drinking scene is built into the restaurant strip rather than separate from it. Most of the cliff-top restaurants along Lighthouse Beach have licences and serve Kingfisher beer, rum, whisky, and gin at tourist prices. A cold Kingfisher on a sunset terrace is genuinely pleasant. There is nothing resembling a bar crawl or a nightlife circuit — this is a beach resort that closes reasonably early — but that suits the character of the place.
The cheapest alcohol in the area is from the BEVCO (Kerala Beverages Corporation) government shop in the town behind the beach, if you want to buy a bottle for the evening. Prices there are significantly below the restaurant mark-up. The shop is easy to find by asking any local.
Fresh lime soda and coconut water are the better evening options for non-drinkers. Toddy — fermented coconut palm sap — used to be the traditional drink of the Kerala coast and is still available in some of the local establishments away from the tourist strip, though the government has cracked down on unregistered toddy shops significantly over the past decade.