I usually recommend people start with a kit, but only because it's kind of an easier to follow template for people who are just learning the process. The process for brewing a fat tire clone isn't any more difficult than a kit, I just can't give you quite as clear of a 'road map' so to speak. We can easily put together a fat tire clone.
We have both Galaxy and Zythos hops. I'm kind of a hop nerd, so I usually bring in at least a lb or so of some of the latest and greatest hops to try out. Galaxy is a really cool fruity hop from New Zealand, very similar to Citra but a little more Mango and Lime tone vs the Passionfruit that comes out of Citra. Zythos is a blend of several hops that is designed to mimic Simcoe and Amarillo to ease the demand on those hops, but with all of the new hops that have been popping up this year (Mosaic, El Dorado, Calypso, Melon Hull, Hallertau Blanc etc) the demand on Simcoe and Amarillo isn't quite as bad. I prefer either of those hops to Zythos, but we have all of them if your friend wants to choose.
