The SeveriansMead and tree-hive beekeeping in Kyivan Rus'
The honey beer in the game isn't made up. Honey was a festive drink, a prince's treasure and a matter of law. Here is what the sources actually record.
Mead for feasts
Under the year 996 the chronicle tells how Prince Volodymyr ordered 300 batches (perevary) of mead to be brewed for a church festival. For several centuries mead was the main intoxicating drink of the Eastern Slavs.
Source: Rus' Chronicle, 988–1015
A prince's treasure in Putyvl, 1146
In 1146 the victors found 500 berkovets of honey and 80 crocks of wine in the cellars of Prince Sviatoslav Olhovych's court at Putyvl — the father of Prince Ihor. A berkovets later equalled about 10 poods (roughly 164 kg), though nobody knows for sure whether it was the same in the 12th century. The game's word “crock” (korchaha) comes from here: a large clay vessel.
Sources: Hypatian Chronicle, 1146; Rus' Chronicle, Ukrainian translation
Tree-hive beekeeping protected by law
A bort is a hollow in a tree with bees in it, natural or carved. Tree-hive keepers left the bees honey for winter; honey and wax went to tribute and trade. The extended Rus' Justice (Ruska Pravda) has a section “On tree hives”: forging the owner's mark on a hive cost a fine of 12 hryvnias, and the same for breaking a hive boundary.
Sources: Rus' Justice, “On tree hives”; Wikipedia (uk): Tree beekeeping
My grandfather used to say: a hive without a mark is not a hive, it's a temptation. Hence the fine.
How it works in the game
In The Severians the apiary gives honey, honey and water make wort, and honey beer ferments in crocks. You can catch a wild swarm, and the game's Chronicle has pages on tree beekeeping and hops. How to brew in the game: the brewery guide; all recipes: here.
