Alcohol brewing system? Beer/cider/something else?

[PinkSkirt]

Want to get DH a decent present for a combined Christmas and big birthday present in January but give it to him for Christmas. He would like to brew his own spirits, but looking into it that’s a no with all the licensing and needing to be a big set up etc.
He’d like to have something that’s a decent set up in the garage can tinker with, so nothing like my MIL’s (vomit inducing) wine that is a sachet mix and sugar ready in a week. I’m thinking around £300 budget but could be more or less. Have been having a look but I’m stumped/this is all new to me.

Evening bump

A nice gin kit? You're not technically distilling gin as you start with a neutral spirit and then infuse it with botanicals.
There are loads of shitey kits out there, but there are nice ones too.

Or a (nice) distilling day somewhere?

Otherwise, does he drink beer or cider, and if so, what style?
Or are you looking for a range of kit for him to experiment across styles?

He’s more of a cider drinker, but I think it’s more the process or having a hobby/something to check and tinker with that he likes the idea of. We did look into the licensing thing but decided against it.

Something like this this would be good. Its very expandable.

You can make cider with apples (obviously), or with starter kit, which is sort of pre-processed.

Has he apples? If not, get some trees, interesting old cider varieties, and maybe a press and a 'scratter'. And try to find people with trees for next year as it takes a while to get going.

You can add in nice bottles, and a piece of kit that does nice crown bottle caps.

£300 is a very big budget for cider making! Maybe double up on some of the elements so he can make multiple batches. It's also a very democratic non fancy drink/hobby so often the bits and bobs don't look very beautiful.

How about a still and he can distil his own gin using vodka? You need a personal distiller’s licence.
Check out homedistiller.org/forum/

He would like to brew his own spirits, but looking into it that’s a no with all the licensing and needing to be a big set up etc.

Home distilling doesn't need a big rig.

And as for licensing ... well as long as you never sell any, who's to know ?