Possibly, but not necessarily. You can go by the rules and treat it as poison, having the gnome make several fortitude checks to see what the effects are. Mind you, death by alcohol poisoning should not be instantaneous, and with a good heal check they might be able to save him even if he goes into shock.
Now, getting an intelligent and accurate answer from him when his alcohol levels are up the roof might be a different issue entirely.
Yep, that too. After being force-fed a bottle of alcohol so quickly, the first thing that will come out of his mouth would likely be his last meal... and most of the booze. Even if they manage to make him keep it in, the DM can roll to have him reduce the effects and he should not immediately drop dead.
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Let's not forget that Gnomes have a naturally superior Constitution - how high is this fellow's?
Under the circumstances, I agree with treating it like a poison - I also agree that rendering the poor guy completely useless as a source of information is a pretty fair consequence for this.
I'd also be inclined to deem it an Evil act (a sort of torture).
The Game Mastery Guide, under Drugs and Addiction gives the effects of alcohol.
DrunkennessJust like drugs, alcohol can be abused and have significant negative effects. In general, a character can consume a number of alcoholic beverages equal to 1 plus double his Constitution modifier. Drinks consumed in excess of this total cause the character to become sickened for 1 hour per drink above this maximum. Particularly exotic or strong forms of alcohol might be treated as normal drugs. Those who regularly abuse alcohol might eventually develop a moderate addiction.
Since the moonshine is a particularly strong form of alcohol, it may act like a drug or poison. However, Pathfinder judges the effects of poison by Fortitude saves rather than body weight, so the gnome with his racial +2 bonus to Constitution is more resistant to alcohol than an average human.
One drink of moonshine would be 1.5 oz. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_glass), so the party poured 11 drinks into the gnome. If the gnome has Con 20, he can handle that much alcohol. Otherwise, he is sickened and perhaps poisoned.
The Game Mastery Guide says that Dwarven Fire Ale has Fortitude DC 20 and does 1d2 Con damage. I recommend that the gnome roll a DC 20 Fortitude save once per round for each drink beyond his capacity (1 plus twice his Con modifier) and take 1d2 Con damage for each failed save. Give the Fortitude saves a -2 penalty for being sickened. I doubt his Con will drop low enough to kill him, but it might drop low enough for the hit point damage on him to kill him.
And following Shiroi's suggestion, for each successful Fortitude save the gnome will vomit up some alcohol.
For the interrogation afterwards, I would give the gnome a Sense Motive check opposed by the party's Diplomacy check to avoid answering the question. With a -2 penalty for sickened condition and a circumstance bonus that depends on how much the gnome wants to avoid answering that particular question: +0 for no qualms, +5 for wanting to keep it secret, and +10 for deadly secret.
On the flip side, waterskins and rations for a small character are different sizes than for a medium creature last time I checked. While I agree for simplicities sake that it shouldn't be an issue, I do find it very odd that they can drink as much poison as anyone else and not be more adversely affected. I can understand why though, since between complication for no reason and mechanical advantages for small players (oh look, buy one get 3 free potions!) it just doesn't make any improvement to the game to account for the difference in size regarding the effects of anything beyond basic food/drink.
You could argue that one drink for a gnome is smaller than one drink for a human. Perhaps 17 oz. of moonshine is really 34 drinks for a gnome. It would be a lot more Fortitude saves that way.