I am a beginning mead brewer in addition to being a residential security expert and private investigator..
Honey "farmers" trade honey to me in exchange for mead back to them. A batch of mead will make 31 bottles, and the honey farmer gets 6 bottles as payment for all the honey I needed for that batch.
When I ask people if they have ever had mead, most of them look very puzzled. They don't even know what mead is. How is that possible? It boggles my mind. Mead is simply water, honey, and yeast with spices added for additional flavor.
People have been drinking it for thousands of years. So called "Vikings" were stronger and had better immune systems because of mead too. The pro-antibiotics in the mixture are very powerful.
None of this would be possible without bees. I salute them every time I take a sip of mead!