We collected a whole bunch of horehound yesterday - wahey! - from a paddock in Geelong. The owner wasn't too fussed about the horehound being there but happy to let us collect some.
I've tied it up in bundles and am drying it out in the shed.
Meantime I made a small bunch of horehound ale from some dried stuff I bought from the organics store in Bright. It's alright but the yeast I used - a wild yeast, probably some kind of low-attenuating saccharomyces - is currently refusing to perform the secondary carbonation. It's possible a bacteria may have taken over.
The taste is very strong and bitter, with a kind of earthy mintiness that could compliment a creamy, biscuity ale. A bit too strong in this current ale, but not so much as to be offputting.
I'm thinking of brewing a kind of Colonial ale with some of my freshly collected horehound soon, an extremely simple grain bill (perhaps pale ale malt + some oats) and maybe some wild yeast. Call it 'The Scourge of the Country' - from a line in a 19th century Australian poem about brewing: Wild yeast is the scourge of the country....