Leave room to upgrade.

When you - or someone on your Christmas list - first explore a new interest, it doesn’t make any sense to immediately plunge into the deep end, and not just if that new interest is learning to swim.

The expensive, high-precision gear demanded by the experts will be wasted on the beginner. Only a fool buys a grand piano before they start plinking out their first scales. You don’t see many “student driver” signs on Bugattis. Nobody’s first horsie ride is on a Thoroughbred.

Even if you do somehow master the finest equipment… then what? There’s nowhere to go from there. You’re done. Since the whole reason we do these things is to fill the empty years between now and the grave with something of meaning and beauty, you’re probably gonna want to draw the learning curve out a little.

That’s where Mr. Beer comes in. In one box, you get a keg for both fermenting and serving, 11 25-ounce bottles, carbonation drops, Irish stout flavor starter, yeast, cleaner, and an instructional DVD. That’s pretty much everything you need except the water. If this kit washed up on a desert island that had fresh water, you’d be brewing your own beer before they rescued you.

No, don’t go apply to the state liquor board for a brewery license just yet. But it’s not exactly an Easy-Bake Oven for beer, either. It makes real beer while it teaches the basic process of brewing. If you enjoy it, if you decide you want to try creating your own flavors and mastering the more intricate details, there’s plenty of room to upgrade. That’s where the fun is.