Game of Thrones
Mead appears in feast scenes all over Westeros, serving as a symbol of hospitality, vitality, and Northern culture. Mead appears at almost every major social gathering in the series, often marking transitions in the plot.
The most frequent usage of mead is in the idiom "meat and mead," which George R.R. Martin uses as a Westerosi equivalent to "bread and butter."
"He had no taste for these intrigues, but he was beginning to realize that they were meat and mead to a man like Littlefinger."
While wine is the preferred drink in the South (especially the Reach and Dorne), mead is more prominent in the North and beyond the Wall. In the North and at the Wall, mead and ale are staple drinks because grapes for wine do not grow in the cold climate, whereas honey can be stored and transported more easily. Tormund Giantsbane, known as the "Mead-King of Ruddy Hall," is the character most famously associated with the drink.
A full breakdown of the scenes and events involving mead can be found here.
Skyrim
In the world of Skyrim, mead is treated as the national drink of the "Nords," a Viking-inspired culture. It is a central part of their world’s history, politics, and social life. It's also a spiritual symbol. Their version of "Heaven" is a massive banquet hall where heroes spend eternity feasting and drinking mead. Because of this, drinking it is seen as a way to honor one's ancestors and celebrate a life of courage.
The game also features major competition between two main brands that the player can get involved in:
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Black-Briar Mead: The "big corporate" option. It is owned by a powerful, ruthless family with ties to the underworld. They use intimidation and bribes to keep their mead in every tavern.
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Honningbrew Mead: The "craft" competitor. It is a smaller, local favorite known for tasting better, which makes it a target for sabotage by the Black-Briar family.
How fun, although the existence of a large mead corporation sounds like more of a fantasy than anything else in the game!
Harry Potter
Mead makes several appearance in the wizarding world too, both in passing and as a central plot point. Three varieties are mentioned throughout the series, and because the props in the film series were so incredibly detailed, each has a beautiful label and imaginary meadery associated with it!
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the book where mead makes the most appearances, and the most important appearance, owed in part to Harry being of drinking age. At the start of the book, Professor Dumbledore brings a bottle of mead as a gift to the Dursley's and while Harry enjoys it, Dumbledore enchants the glasses to hit the Dursley family on their heads for their refusal to try any. Later on, Professor Slughorn serves mead at his Christmas party. The most consequential moment for mead, however, comes when Slughorn serves Ron Weasley a glass of oak-matured mead, which he had intended to gift to Professor Dumbledore, but had been unknowingly poisoned in a murder attempt.
Lord of the Rings
Unsurprisingly, mead was also drunk in Middle Earth, though it seems to be reserved for special occasions, rather than an everyday drink of choice. Mead is mentioned or hinted at by Tolkien throughout his stories:
Now Galadriel rose from the grass, and taking a cup from one of her maidens she filled it with white mead and gave it to Celeborn.
“Now it is time to drink the cup of farewell,” she said. “Drink Lord of the Galadrim!…”
Then she brought the cup to each of the Company, and bade them drink and farewell.
-Fellowship of the Rings
In The Hobbit, the skin-changer Beorn serves mead to the company on their trek towards the Misty Mountains. Michael Martinez of Middle Earth Blog highlights a few more subtle references:
When Frodo, Sam, and Pippin walk through the Shire ... The Elves leave the hobbits some food and drink for their journey, including “a clear drink, pale golden in colour: it had the scent of a honey made of many flowers, and was wonderfully refreshing.”
another and more obvious reference to mead is the name of Theoden’s hall, Meduseld. Although most Tolkien sources translate this name as “mead hall” I think a more appropriate translation would be “Mead Throne”.
Mead is, of course, also featured in many other viking shows as a drink of every day life, including Vikings and The Last Kingdom, films such as The Northman and The 13th Warrior, and games like Valheim and Assassins Creed.