Ive been brewing for ages, beer and wine, the beer kits are about £10 another £2 for the sterilising stuff and sugar, and you have 5 gallon for £12, nice stuff too, I have a couple of pressure barrels, and re-use lemonade/pop bottles (bottles transport easier for those weekends away!!)
The reason (IIRC) for home made spirits, is not to do with licencing (its illegal to home distill most of the world, I believe only New Zealand its actually legal), but to do with the alcohols involved, when distilling it is far too easy to get more than the alcohol you want, getting methanol produced which is actually toxic, rather than just the ethanol.