As things stand now, there's little reason to pursue beverages, whether as a producer or consumer. It's far easier to level hot food cooking and far quicker to make high-quality affinity food which will give far more total affinity time than, say, a barrel full of beer.
My suggestion is simple: separate temporary food affinities from temporary beverage affinities (meaning, for example, you can get a 10% buff to mining skill-gain from your custom affinity pizza and another 10% buff if you find a beverage that gives the same affinity, for a total of 20%). This will take beverages out of competition with pizzas, etc. – where they are hopelessly outmatched – and create a gameplay reason to make the extra effort that brewing, distilling, and so on requires.