WARNING: This contains a fair bit of spoiler information.

Since I have a real life weakness for B&B (Benedictine & Brandy, angel nectar brewed by the Benedictine monks), Sindi the monk thought she should pursue the time-honoured monk tradition of Brewing.

Most of this I've discovered through trial and error as well as perusing ALL the websites I could find. Sindi started brewing at level 3, so I did not have the cash to spend on a trade skill like some other people do. This information also assumes that you sell back all your brews to the vendor, and don't indulge in a little drinking.

Here's the cheapest (albeit time consuming) way to get from Skill 1-68:

Training: Put 1 point into Brewing.

Bog Juice: Skill 1-21
1 snake skin, 1 water, 1 bottle
Go out and kill several hundred snakes to get their skins (takes about 200 skins at newbie levels of Intelligence). Save eggs for personal food or sell to a baker (they need them for dough). West Freeport is great. Save any extra snake skins in the bank (more on this later), OR, keep brewing with the snake skins to make the money that must be initially invested into Fish Wine.
Cost: Close to break even (loss at first).  Net loss a few gold pieces.

Fish Wine: Skill 22-62
1 fish, 1 water, 1 grapes, 1 bottle
Grab a fishing pole and fish for hours. Recoup money spent on fishing poles and bait with the daggers and sandals.   Sell fish scales to casters. Try not to get discouraged, as you will only succeed 25-30% of your attempts at first. You will need almost 10pp to get to 50 skill, but after that you will recover most of that. Recommendation: Spend some of your newbie life (levels 1-3) fishing (even after you reach your level's skill cap), and sock away the fish in the bank until you have some money to invest in this stage.
Cost: Your average cost/attempt is about 25cp at 21 skill to start, so you will lose money at first, but start making a profit around 50 skill.  Overall net loss a few plat (3-5).

Second possiblity: I discovered too late that Gypsy Wine (1 grapes, 1 Wine Yeast, 1 Fire Beetle Eye, 1 bottle) goes trivial before skill 68 (the supposed order of triviality in the Halas Drink List book is not correct).  It is possible that this might fit in somewhere between 21-62 and be even more economical if you harvest the Fire Beetle Eyes yourself.

Notes for skill 21-62:
DO NOT make Short Beer like everyone says, it is a money pit.
DO NOT make Mead (trivial at mid forties), you lose money on it even when it is trivial.
DO NOT make Heady Kiola, even though it trivials at 46. At 5gp per attempt it is a money pit, wait until you can make it consistently in the 70's or so.
DO NOT make Short Ale (trivial at 51), also a money pit. Although Ale SEEMS to be profitable because it produces 3 (like Fish Wine), if you run the numbers it turns out that Fish Wine is less costly.

I do not have Forage, so I couldn't try Kalish. This is a great option for Foragers. I was not in a location to get Royal Jelly.  If you start in a Wasp location, Honey Mead might be an option.  I also couldn't make Ogre Swill - no Froglocks in Freeport.  Sounds expensive anyway because it uses a cask. At 50 skill Bog Juice is about 95% success rate, so if you saved those extra snake skins then you can now indulge in some drinking at low cost. (Don't drink and brew! Drinking will drop your Int and you will fail more often!)

Ale: Skill 62-68
The first brew without any harvested items, but at 62 skill you succeed about 70% of the time, thus recouping your costs overall.
Cost: break even

Thus it IS possible to brew with little cost, at least so far. I know that even someone with lousy Charisma and Intelligence (i.e. newbies) can get to 68 skill with under 5pp and some elbow grease. Also, because of the low cost, you can easily roleplay your character and make lots of friends handing out the occasional alcoholic beverage. Most people have never tasted Bog Juice or Fish Wine, so it all adds to the experience.

Above 68 skill:
I assume Red and White wines are the things to make for foragers. Personally I am going to whack lots of rats and spiders for Gnomish Spirits, or I may risk a trip to OOT to buy Kiola Nuts for Tumpy's Tonic.

General Note:
Often new characters are so busy trying to level up to be a "decent" player that they completely miss the advantages of being a newbie - namely, free food and drink, no experience loss on death, and thus no "item chasing". When you run out of food, attack something that is going to kill you (guards are the easiest *grin*). It is my opinion that several trade skills can be jump started at under level 4 if one puts a little thought into it. Sindi only killed snakes and fished, and another of my characters got to 82 baking by level 5 by concentrating on the beasties that gave baking ingredients (and fishing). Patchwork for tailoring also works, though it is harder and more costly.

My 1cp (can't afford 2cp *grin*)
Cheers!
Sindi, the Brewing Monk