9 or 10 years ago I made a Woodforde's Headcracker (barley wine) kit, notes are long lost but pretty sure I made it a little short aiming for 9%, and dry hopped with EKG, just because the other "premium" kits at the time did that. The thing is I made it in advance for family Christmas, which meant I actually did leave it to condition for something like 7 months without drinking them all. It was great. In fact, I found a last forgotten one when it had been in the back of the fridge for six or seven years, and it was still very good. I wouldn't have picked it out as a kit beer for sure.
Rarely do beer kits these days (never made another one that was so convincing) but would try that again - except the kit's discontinued...
I do make cider from kits, don't drink much of it myself but the Ciderworks Superior Apple Cider one always goes down well with those that do.