Zozobra Ale

This beer ingredient kit is a Maibock inspired by Rogue's Dead Guy Ale.

History of Dead Guy Ale: In the early 1990s Dead Guy Ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland, Oregon. The Dead Guy design proved so popular with consumers and especially Grateful Dead fans, that Rogue made it the label for their Maierbock ale.

History of the burning of Zozobra: Fiesta has been celebrated in Santa Fe since 1712 by proclamation of the then-governor of the province Jose Chacon Medina Salazar y Villaseor, the marquis of Penuela. It is the oldest civic celebration of its kind in North America. ZOZOBRA, which has gone up in flames every year since Will Shuster created it in 1924, became one of the symbols of the city, a potent reminder of the madcap celebrations of those times and one artist's generous dedication to his adopted home.

Each year The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe stages the burning of Will Shuster's Zozobra, kicking off the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe on the weekend following Labor Day. Zozobra centers around the ritual burning in effigy of Old Man Gloom, or Zozobra, to dispel the hardships and travails of the past year. In 2001, Zozobra attracted over 32,000 spectators to view the conflagration ritual and fireworks show at dusk.

Local artist William Howard Shuster, Jr. - "Will" (1893-1969) conceived and created Zozobra in 1924 as the focus of a private fiesta at his home for artists and writers in the community. His inspiration for Zozobra came from the Holy Week celebrations of the Yaqui Indians of Mexico; an effigy of Judas, filled with firecrackers, was led around the village on a donkey and later burned. Shuster and E. Dana Johnson, a newspaper editor and friend of Shuster's came up with the name Zozobra, which was defined as "anguish, anxiety, gloom" or in Spanish for "the gloomy one."

The effigy is a giant animated wooden and cloth marionette that waves its arms and growls ominously at the approach of its fate. A major highlight of the pageant is the fire spirit dancer, dressed in a flowing red costume, who appears at the top of the stage to drive away the white-sheeted "glooms" from the base of the giant Zozobra. The fire dance was created by Jacques Cartier, a former New York ballet dancer and local dance teacher, who performed the role for 37 years. His dance student, James Lilienthal took over the fire spirit role in 1970 and has continued it for 32 years.



High Gravity's extract kits use only the highest quality ingredients and are assembled when you order so they contain the freshest possible ingredients.

Each kit makes 5 gallons.

Click here to view the instructions and ingredients.

Click on Customize to select kit type, yeast and other options.

Extract kits are recommended for beginning brewers.

Extract kits contain malt extract along with specialty grains and is by far the most common kit type. Extract kits rely on the malt extract to provide the fermentable sugars and the grains are primarily for color and flavor. This is the most common type of beer kit and is recommended for those who are just getting started or those that want to make a great tasting beer without a lot of effort.

Mini-mash kits reduce the amount of malt extract in the kit and replaces it with additional grain along with the specialty grains. This method requires that you "mash" the grains to get the required amount of fermentable sugars for your beer. This method is generally used by homebrewers with a bit of brewing experience.

All-grain kits eliminate the extract and completely rely on the grains to produce the fermentable sugars needed to make the beer. Additional equipment is required, such as a mash tun and hot liquor tank. This method also requires that the entire volume be boiled so a 40qt pot is recommended to boil the wort (pre-fermented beer). All-grain brewing is the most advanced method for brewing beer and is recommended for those that have had some experience brewing extract kits.

We recommend liquid yeast for our High Gravity kits but if you would prefer dry yeast, you can select it instead. Liquid yeasts provide a wider range of flavor profiles but are very susceptible to temperature variations. This can cause problems when shipping during very hot weather. Dry yeast, however, will not be damaged in transport because of weather conditions.
You may also want to choose your own yeast. If so, you can select the "No Yeast" Option.

Ice Pack:
When shipping liquid yeast, an ice pack is highly recommended, especially during hot weather to help ensure the viability of the liquid yeast. There is an additional cost of $1.00. High Gravity will not guarantee the viability of liquid yeast shipped without a cold pack.