Mead takes years to age before it is good.
Egads! Some meads benefit from aging, but plenty you don't want to get 2 years old. They start to.... taste funny.
I'll throw in my $0.02 about the cost. Even if you buy a $2000 setup, eventually you will break even on the cost of producing rather than buying commercial; and if you're like me you tend to subtract a large portion of your equipment cost from your 'hobby' budget.
Brewing has definitely not been and is still not my most expensive hobby. I have about $1500 in paintball equipment and $500 in western european armor sitting in my basement; $400 in archery equipment, $300 in practice swords and etc. Don't even get me started on the tools to go along with all of those
My brewing gear, including the keggerator setup i've just bought, has been about $750-$800 so far.
I've produced 6 batches of beer since August of last year (staring another today
), plus about 10 gallons of mead.
Each 5.5 gallon batch costs about $25 to produce and makes about two and a half cases. A *cheap* BMC style case around here runs around $25.
Mead costs me on average about $8 per gallon to produce and yields 5 750ml bottles per gallon finished product (give or take a bit for 'testing') A cheap bottle of wine around here is about $10.
This means a net savings over buying commercial of aprx. $225 on the beer and $420 on the mead. This doesn't include labor cost or some incidental expenses (sanitizer, corks) but it still means big savings compared to commercial.
Now, back on topic.
A myth that absolutely must die is that you can't produce good beer from a kit.
Not great beer, but definitely good beer.
Especially with the kits being offered through places like OntarioBeerKegs or Austin Home Brew, they're a great way to start for new brewers.