I make mead as well, but with the recent issues with honey bees and mites, honey has become pretty scarce and expensive.

I have some mead put up that is about 5 years old...just getting really good.

Beer has a more immediate satisfaction in that after a few weeks of effort, I can tell if my results were good and make adjustments....mead can take years to mature so my turn-around for mistakes and improvements is much longer.