My buddy and I each got this kit. I saw it pop up on Dealnews and we had been talking about doing some homebrew for a couple years.
Let me tell you, it's some of the most fun I've had spending $64 on in a long time. In essence, I figured it out and it's pretty much like buying the equipment and getting two sets of ingredients for free, depending on what you choose for your second batch.
Last weekend we just cracked open our first homebrews ever - the Irish Red and the Autumn Amber were both good. Have I had better? Absolutely, but these are definitely brews that I'd buy again if I bought them as random sixers at the liquor store. That was after two weeks in primary and two weeks in bottles. This weekend will be three weeks in the bottle and they are only getting better as time goes on.
We've already brewed our second batches, and we got the ingredients with the included gift certificate. He did a hefeweizen and I did a double IPA a week ago. Both are still sitting in primary, but now is when the real fun starts - get the process down with the included kits and then start brewing the beer styles that are your personal favorites.
It's actually an ingenious idea and is win-win for everyone: You get to start homebrewing and Midwest most likely gets a new customer who will most likely keep returning.
Don't be fooled though.. $64 is just the start of a wicked spiral.. As I look back over the last two months:
$50 ($25 each) - My buddy and I split a turkey fryer I found on clearance at Gander Mountain so we could do full boils outside. (Highly recommended)
$16 - 32 oz of StarSan (They include sanitizer, but everyone raves about Starsan and I agree after using both.)
$25 for two cases of empty pry off bottles
$40 in materials for a homemade 40 ft wort chiller (Highly recommended!!)
$15 for an auto siphon and some 1/2 inch tubing (Recommended to get the bigger one to start.)
$20 on yeast starter kit for the second batch
$30 on misc stuff (Extra airlocks, an extra fermentation bucket, hop bags, irish moss, etc..)
and my wife got me a 6.5 gallon glass carboy for my birthday which was ultra cool. Now that I have the carboy and the other stuff mentioned above, we're pretty much ready to get into some winemaking as well.
It's a dangerously delicious hobby!!