Need help selecting ingredients for next brew

My first ever batch (Munton's Bock extract kit) has been in the bottles for almost two weeks and as soon as I get my immersion wort chiller finished, I'll be ready to brew again. I'd like to try a Sierra Nevada pale ale clone (extract) and I'm thinking about getting the AHS kit, but I have some questions:

1. Has anyone used this kit - is it good? Are there better kits or recipes? Note, I'm not yet ready for all grain.

2. Of the three listed choices for yeast, which do you recommend -
White Labs California Ale WLP001
Wyeast American Ale 1056
Danstar Nottingham dry yeast
or do you recommend something else entirely? I only have experience with dry yeast from the Munton's kit, but if liquid is clearly superior, I'll use it - I'd need a starter with that, wouldn't I?

3. Is the 1% alcohol boost a worthwhile option? Any effect on flavor?

Thanks for you help - I think I'm going to love this hobby!

I'd trust any of the kits from AHS. Forrest, the owner, is a great guy and is a vendor on this site. There are many users on this site that use and stand by AHS. As for the yeast, I'm a big fan of the liquid yeast. If you are nowhere near Austin, TX, make sure you get the chill pack to keep liquid yeast cold during shipping. Either the White Labs or Wyeast will work great. It's not completely necessary to do a starter, especially if you are doing a Pale Ale, but It couldn't hurt. If you are in a place where shipping has it's challanges, distance or otherwise, I'd go with the dry yeast. As for the 1% boost, I'd skip it. If you want a faster buzz either drink more homebrew or design a beer that's meant to have a higher gravity.

1. nope, but their kits are solid and I don't think I have heard many complaints about any AHS kit.
2. sup to you, but either liquid or dry will be a safe bet with this kit since the beer uses a fairly neutral yeast and US05 is the dry version of WLP001.
3. meh...

I used Wyeast 1056 on my home made SNPA kit. It used 6lb of DME, Magnum for bittering, Pearl for flavoring, Cascade for aroma and dry hops. I also steeped some Crystal 40L...but I have not tasted it yet so who knows if it will be good or not. I'm sure a big name like AHS knows what they are doing and will steer you towards a tasty beer.

Thanks for your help. After seeing DeathBrewer's thread on Easy Partial Mash Brewing, I decided to order the mini-mash option with WLP001 yeast, no alcohol boost. Belated thanks also to Revvy for his tips on bottling with the wand attached directly to the spigot and using a dip tube, both of which worked beautifully for me when I bottled my first batch a couple of weeks ago.