I just always have 5 gal of apple wine going. Apple juice, sugar, and EC118 are cheap and produce something that tastes good. Just throw it in a carboy with air lock and in 2 weeks you are done.

Depending where you buy your beer ingredients a very basic 5 gallon batch of 5.2%ABV blonde/pale ale (10lbs 2 row, 2oz of hops, dry yeast), would be around $0.55/12oz pour for someone in the us (priced from morebeer). Of course $0/hr for labor. It would be very easy to lower those costs 20%+ buying a slightly more bulk amount, or buying the grain from your local brewery. On the equipment side you can go all out and get a setup for $1-2k or go super basic for a few hundred dollars.

Wine is even cheaper and easier. Most wine kits come out to be around $3/per bottle. And only need about $100 in equipment.

I found it made more sense to brew 10 years ago. Back then craft brew wasn't as easy to find, so if I wanted something particular I'd have better luck making my own and sharing it with friends. Now I can go down to Whole Foods and have more options than I can fathom.

Cost-wise it just doesn't make much sense. A batch might be somewhat favorable in price for ingredients if you do all-grain, but if you factor in equipment cost and time cleaning up...

It depends on scale and stuff. Really fancy equipment can be a drag on any economy.

I have a 6 gallon stock pot for primary fermentation, or a large mash of beer ($30ish). I use a smaller kitchen pot for most of my batches of beer (1-2 gallons is a usual size for me). I use my grandparents old 3 gallon carboys and bottle capper. I also bought a used glass carboy 5gal for $20. Used beer bottles can be found for nothing through local Facebook groups and friends. I use screwtop wine bottles to save on cork costs. Gallon jugs are about $5 (you can also use these as carboys). So a low tech setup that can do 5gal batches can run less than $100. My initial setup was the stock pot ($30) and a 4pk of 1gal jugs ($20), and ballons ($2) for airlocks. That can give you enough room to make 3 gallons. A 5gal bucket and some strainer bags can be helpful depending on the recipes ($20ish).

Depending on the fruit wine I want to make, I can make it for between $3 and $15 per gallon at 18% ABV. Even for for beer, which admittedly can involve more equipment, I can make a case of NE IPA for about $16. That's probably about a third of the cost in the store.

The only additional beer equipment I have is a capper and a grain mill. The only reason I have the mill is that it was free. You can order your grain pre-milled.

And yes, I make mead, which as you said is where the real savings can come in. I also use my own honey so it's super cheap.

My wife got me one of those diy kits from northernbrewer for Christmas. I was able to produce almost 5 gallons of a perfectly drinkable IPA at 6-6.5%ABV with it. Five gallons is a LOT of beer. There isn't much labor to speak of, maybe 4 hrs total. You just have to be patient and wait, it took about 4 weeks for my batch to be ready.

I haven't worked it down to the penny but the initial kit is about $150 (which comes with a recipe kit) and then around $40-50 for additional recipe kits. On the other hand, my favorite beer, Manhatten Project Beer Co's Half Life, is pushing $12 for a 6 pack.

EDIT: if i just wanted to be inebriated though i'd probably just get THC gummies. That would be easiest and likely the most inebriation per unit money.

I've been tracking my costs for ~13 years. The cost here includes all equipment and ingredients over that time, including all of the unnecessary stuff that I bought for fun, like pH meters and titration gear.

  |-----------------+-------------------------------+--------|                                                                                                                                      
  |           Years |                               |  12.92 |                                                                                                                                      
  |          Liters |                               |  831.5 |                                                                                                                                      
  |         Bottles |                               |   2494 |                                                                                                                                      
  |      Cost (SEK) |                               |  35373 |                                                                                                                                      
  | Cost/year (SEK) |                               |   2738 |                                                                                                                                      
  |       SEK/liter |                               |  42.54 |                                                                                                                                      
  |      SEK/bottle |                               |  14.18 |                                                                                                                                      
  |      USD/bottle |                               |   1.38 |                                                                                                                                      
  |-----------------+-------------------------------+--------| 

It obviously matters what you brew and what you brew with. This is mostly pale ales and stouts. They certainly haven't all been great, but I've never dumped a batch, so there's no waste to account for.