My first Egullet post! I have brewed a few beers using herbs before. Ground Ivy has been one of the more interesting. It has a long history in England, and seems to work well when added in the last 5 minutes or so of the boil. It isn't really bitter enough or in the right way to replace hops, and the one batch I did with just the ivy was interesting, but not great. However, used with hops in a lower bitterness style like a mild it is a refreshing taste akin to mint in some ways. It is also quite available in many unkempt lawns (Aka "Creeping Charlie). Another herb is Gesho, which is an African buckthorn leaf. I used to work at a home brewing store (Northern Brewer) and we had a lot of Eritrean and Ethiopian customers who brewed "Suwa," a roasted corn and barley beer flavored entirely with this herb, which turns out to be available in most little grocery stores that cater to those cultures. I have tasted a bit of suwa and the related mead they called "miss", and it has the right sort of bitter character to balance the brew well. Both the beer and meads were on the sweet side and probably still slightly fermenting when served.
