I mean like a billion books have mead in them... its never beer, but always MEAD

and now no-one drinks mead

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead#In_literature

so why do all the middle ages characters drink mead and no-one does now?

can anyone answer?

sorry just read the page again, leading to a new question:

why is mead so popular now?
and does it taste good?

mead is not popular now.. due to the legal difficulties in producing it. *It's loosely defined between wine and beer, and with brewing restrictions, makes it more difficult to produce*
I always Imagined, the reason Mead was used instead of Beer in literature depicting older times.. is the mere fact that people don't really drink mead now..
If you put down in a fantasy novel about a couple of people drinking beers, you are picturing modern people with beer bottles sitting around..
Mead helps the reader feel more like the times are different than what they are used to..

fair enough

Here's a reason why;

Beer: øl

Shouting beer: ØL ØL ØL ØL ØL ØL ØL ØL!

Mead: Mjød

Shouting mead: Mjød mjød mjød mjød

Here's a second reason why:

Ducks are birds, even though they are green.

Do with that as you wish, I will hunt foxes in my backyard now.

good luck with that