dipsomania

Addiction to alcohol.

Specifically periodic alcoholism, characterized by bouts of heavy drinking rather than continuous indulgence in alcohol.

A strong craving for something.

A most ingenuous youth was Master Snape, round-eyed, round-cheeked, with an ever ready smooth and round unvarnished tale—a youth afflicted with a dipsomania for information.

"You must regard my passion for painting," he began once more, "as a sort of dipsomania—I really can't help myself."