It's not my equipment, and it's not ale/wine. Seems you do get boosts when you finish an act. I finished act2 and my hero and DKs vit/mana doubled, but their equipment bonuses also locked (I could remove or equip items, but it wouldn't change anything, like a ring that added 2 const was removed but I still got the bonus 2 const, and when I tried to equip a +3 const ring I still only had the +2 from the old ring), everything went back to normal when I saved and reloaded. This time I know it wasn't from resting.