I'm puzzled, Egin. I tried several things to see what the lockpicks do and when they disappear in the latest patch..
Putting them on the ground = they stay
stealing P.'s dagger out of the guard house = they disappear and are in the table again.
giving them Finnegan = I could buy them back
Well, I had them up to the end of my game. Have you tried to use Raze's solution?
How to get lockpicks backKiya
About the ale: Just go back to Rimmer and buy them via speech option, should work.