Beer making kit as a gift?

may be fun but the beer is nasty

If it's in support of an existing hobby they have then good call. If you're foisting a new hobby off on someone then it's no go.

If the person has expressed interest, then yes. If not, you have to realize that not EVERYTHING required is in the kit. (I assume you are looking at giving and equipment kit, right?)

2 things normally not included in the kit are a large boiling pot and a burner. You can likely get away with starting out on a stove, but an electric stove will be extremely slow. Lots of people in LA already have a burner anyway.

The only "chores" really are cleaning up and then waiting.

there's real home brews and then there's home brews from a kit

If they don't know shite about beer and isn't one that needs great beer, get them a Mr Beer kit and be done with it

Found one at bed bath and beyond for my brother for this years Christmas. Go with your gut.

If your friend has expressed an interest, I'd think more about an equipment kit than a "MAKE YOUR OWN BEER!" kit. Mr. Beer is terrible.

As others have mentioned, the equipment kit to make beer is pretty cheap and does have everything you'll need after the wort is boiled.

That boiling rig is the most expensive part, though. If your friend doesn't have propane and propane related accessories already, they're going to make wort on the stove precisely once and then their wives or girlfriends are going to shut that shite down and send them outside (wort stinks, and stoves just don't have the BTU power to do it properly) and they're going to have to buy a boiling rig to continue brewing. Also, they're going to need a separate pot, space to store everything, more equipment and more equipment as they get into it, etc.

I'd look elsewhere for a gift, my friend. Either they're going to love it and go broke to feed their habit or they're going to hate it and never use the gift.

Might as well give them heroin.

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If it's in support of an existing hobby they have then good call. If you're foisting a new hobby off on someone then it's no go.

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this. Its a giant pain in the arse to do. I have been given that gift twice since "I love beer" and " I am like a mad scientist"

Both were regiven.

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I love brewing my own beer and wine.

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I really want to try a wine kit.

I got the Mr. Beer kit as a gift one year. It was good experience for future brews and the beer tasted fairly decent, but I would take BeerMoney's advice.