It’s so cool that you’re going to visit a local meadery tomorrow. The only experience I’ve had with mead is from a local winery. They tend to make sweet grape wines and fruity wines (raspberry, blueberry), and mead is one of the things they make. Anyway, it was a dry mead and it tasted sort of like… cough drops? Only without the cherry flavoring. Very tangy and refreshing.
The mead is a really cool idea, but if they’re big beer drinkers you could also check out rare offerings from local craft breweries. There are a handful of breweries in my area. Along with their regular offerings, sometimes they’ll make small/ experimental batches of different beers and release it in single 22 oz bottles (about the size of a wine bottle.). A lot of breweries do this and it’s great because it’s the perfect size for sharing between two or three people, they’re kind of special and unusual, and they often run about the same price as an inexpensive bottle of wine.
See if there’s an independent beer/wine store in your area with a good selection and knowledgeable staff, then ask if there’s anything new/special from the local breweries in your area.