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howdy barry here,been brewing for around a year started with kits didnt enjoy any of them bar a coopers ipa moved on to malt extract and hop brews and enjoyed them but decided to start doing all grain before christmas so far ive done a best bitter and a brown ale this year and ive got a porter bin the bucket now.my main aim is to make beers like the one's i pay ridiculous amounts of cash on at off licence's, fullers 1845,theakstons old peculiar,hens tooth,shepeard neame 1698,st peters old style porter etc etc i love loads of beers

Welcome aboard. All grain brewing is very exciting in that respect, because if you get your technique right there is no limit to the type and quality of the beer you can produce at home. Though the beer you mentioned like the 1698 and St. Peter's old style porter will certainly take some effort to emulate becuase they are aged beers, particularly the old style porter which is a blend of an old and young beer.

thats true all right i havent left any of my beers to mature for long enough to consider them old nevermind blending it with a new beer but that stuff is fascinating the belgians do a lot of that blending of beers and i think guinness foreign extra used to be too not sure if it still is

welcome, i think your right about the only kit i enjoyed has been the coopers IPA, its pretty decent for a 1.5kg kit

I made Coopers IPA when I started brewing and I was pleased with it. You'll notice a big difference in terms of your choices when you move to extract brewing. There are loads of recipes out there that will allow you to tailor your style of brew, and while you have more options with all grain brewing, most styles can be produced very well with extract.