History Main / TheNeedForMead

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'' sees the heroes stop at the Hell's Way Inn, the last bastion of civilization before passing Gormly Keep and entering [[BigBad Ommadon's]] hellish realm. Its hear that Elder dragon Ssmrgol introduces human-turned-dragon Peter Dickenson to mead... by the barrel full. The innkeeper is most distressed by this but soon has other problems to deal with.

* In the ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' comics this is done straight and played with. In the standard version of this trope, the [[ComicBook/Thor2014 unknown female Thor]] meets the Warriors Three in a tavern. There, they give her a series of quests to do before they will accept her as a rightful Thor (they also had her do a drinking contest as well to see if she could hold her liquor). In the 'played with' version, a little alien girl prays to Thor to save their harvest from a decades long drought. Thor does so and is about to leave when the grateful, impoverished aliens ask him to stay a while and they have a large stock of mead made from slugs to offer. Since 'mead' was involved of course Thor had to stay and in the course of the evening learns about the events of the Godbutcher. What makes this atypical was that there is no tavern, the aliens are too impoverished to have anything so fancy. It was just a somewhat solemn occasion held by a campfire.

* In the Thor comics this is done straight and played with. In the standard version of this trope, the unknown female Thor meets the Warriors Three in a tavern. There, they give her a series of quests to do before they will accept her as a rightful Thor (they also had her do a drinking contest as well to see if she could hold her liquor). In the 'played with' version, a little alien girl prays to Thor to save their harvest from a decades long drought. Thor does so and is about to leave when the grateful, impoverished aliens ask him to stay a while and they have a large stock of mead made from slugs to offer. Since 'mead' was involved of course Thor had to stay and in the course of the evening learns about the events of the Godbutcher. What makes this atypical was that there is no tavern, the aliens are too impoverished to have anything so fancy. It was just a somewhat solemn occasion held by a campfire.

* Music/{{Feuerschwanz}} has many songs about mead, for example "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXWqDAwx9EU Metnotstand im Märchenland]]"[[note]]Mead shortage in fairy tale land[[/note]], "Met und Miezen"[[note]]Mead and Pussies[[/note]] or "Verteidiger des wahren Mets"[[note]]Defenders of the true mead[[/note]].

So they head to a stock fantasy tavern, which will be of wooden construction and generally poorly lit. The drinks, generally either [[AllBeerIsAle ale]] or mead, will be of [[ATankardOfMooseUrine questionable quality]]. Nobody there may even ''realize'' that mead and beer aren't the same thing[[note]]Mead is made by fermenting honey. No hops or barley are involved. There is a kind of mead/beer hybrid called a braggot, but ''nobody'' outside of homebrewers knows about it these days.[[/note]]. Other features may include:

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' features the Snuggly Duckling. Flynn takes Rapunzel here in an effort to scare her into cutting her day trip out of the tower short, but then she saves him from the thuggish clientele and kicks off a CrowdSong.

* In ''Film/The13thWarrior'' Ahmad ibn Fadlan explains that, as a Muslim, he is forbidden to drink alcohol made from either grain or grape. His Viking host laughs and says mead is made from honey. Drunkenness ensues.[[/folder]]

* The Mended Drum in Literature/{{Discworld}} is a parodic exaggeration; it's been rebuilt several times, and is widely regarded as the best tavern of ill-repute in the world. The regulars are rough, in a rather specific way; someone coming in and calling himself "Urblad the Undefeatable" would soon have the entire bar proving him wrong with a wide variety of sharp and blunt instruments, but a ten-year-old popping in for a glass of lemonade would never get worse than a clip on the ear (and that more likely than not from ''his mother'', when she hears her child's expanded vocabulary). By ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', the brawlers rehearse their moves to look the best for tourists and the bar brawls have become Ankh-Morpork's most popular organized sport.

* In ''Film/The13thWarrior'' Ahmad ibn Fadlan explains that, as a Muslim, he is forbidden to drink alcohol made from
either grain or grape. His Viking host laughs and says mead is made from honey. Drunkenness ensues.[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', set in the home of the [[NorseByNorsewest Viking expy]] [[HornyVikings Nords]], kicks this trope up a notch and also plays it literally, with mead being a favored beverage. You can also engage in {{Bar Brawl}}s, ogle the barmaids, overhear a snippets of InfallibleBabble in conversations between the other patrons, and hire mercenary companions. Amusingly, a few bandits will complain about the native Nords' love of mead, since they prefer a good beer.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': One of the first places Diana visits when she's stuck in an illusionary world/mental world by Stalker is a tavern with mead and barmaids where the patrons are all fur wearing viking pastiches. She meets her first ally there, a HotBlooded barbarian hero

* ''WesternAnimation/FlightOfDragons'' sees the heroes stop at the Hell's Way Inn, the last bastion of civilization before passing Gormly Keep and entering [[BigBad Ommadon's]] hellish realm. Its hear that Elder dragon Ssmrgol introduces human-turned-dragon Peter Dickenson to mead... by the barrel full. The innkeeper is most distressed by this but soon has other problems to deal with.

* Music/Feuerschwanz has many songs about mead, for example "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXWqDAwx9EU Metnotstand im Märchenland]]"[[note]]Mead shortage in fairy tale land[[/note]], "Met und Miezen"[[note]]Mead and Pussies[[/note]] or "Verteidiger des wahren Mets"[[note]]Defenders of the true mead[[/note]].

* Places to sleep.

* A chance for a BarBrawl.

->''"Mead, mead, mead. Would it kill [[HornyVikings 'em]] to get a beer now and again? Stupid bees and their stupid honey..."''

->''"When we are in the tavern,\\
We do not care of our fate,\\
But we hurry to the game,\\
Which we always worry about."''
-->-- '''Music/CarminaBurana''', ''In Taberna Quando Summus''[[note]]When we are in the Tavern[[/note]]

* In the ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' games, there's one in every town, possibly two in a large city, and a few outside of towns. These are {{Rest And Resupply Shop}}s for the franchise, although each varies in cost and the quantity you can buy. Many have variou other functions, like obtaining information and hiring henchmen.

To which we always attend,\\
What happens in the tavern\\
Where money is my servant\\
Is the work that it seeks.\\
What I say, it will hear.''
-->-- '''Music/CarminaBurana''', "''In Taberna''[[note]]In the Tavern[[/note]]"

We do not care what we are,\\

To which we always care,\\

[[IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with VideoGame/NeedForSpeed.

* ''Manga/YuGiOh'': Yugi and his friends play two tabletop-roleplaying games in the manga series (where they are trapped in the game world as their characters), and in both, their first stop for information is almost always the tavern. During the second RPG, which was based on actual historical in-universe events, Yugi doesn't even realize it's an RPG they're in at first: being a gaming nerd, [[GenreSavvy he actually goes there compulsively *because* adventures tend to go to taverns in role-playing games]].

* ''Manga/YuGiOh'': Yugi and his friends play two tabletop-roleplaying games in the manga series (where they are trapped in the game world as their characters), and in both, their first stop for information is almost always the tavern. During the second RPG, which was based on actual historical in-universe events, Yugi doesn't even realize it's an RPG they're in at first: being a gaming nerd, [[GenreSavvy he actually goes there compulsively ''because'' adventures tend to go to taverns in role-playing games]].