The UESP says that there are 5 bottles of "mead with juniper berry" during Unbound, in the building you jump into from the tower during Alduin's attack (see link: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Food#Beverages). Granted, your hands are bound at that point, but I don't even see them there at all. Note that during the ride in, Ralof comments on Vilod's mead with juniper berries, so it made sense for them to be there, but knowing the UESP isn't infallible, I also checked the Creation Kit. In the Creation Kit the bottles are there - you can see them in the cell view window: 5 bottles of mead with juniper berry scattered about the remains of the inn.

Has anyone ever found the 5 bottles of mead with juniper berry in the game, presumably in Helgen after completing the escape?

Thanks.

Yep, I've found those on the top floor of the inn building.

I do think that you have to go there before the bandits take over. On subsequent visits the hole in the side of the tower had been fixed, making it impossible to jump down ontop of the inn.

So you escape from Helgen (with Ralof or Hadvar) and then just immediately go back in?

I've gone back much later and found the bottles. Jumped through the hole in the tower just like at the beginning.

...Not in my experience it isn't. I've been to Helgen twice after the intro: once, after the bandits had moved in. The hole in the side of the tower is still there (and Helgen in general is still thoroughly in ruins), and the juniper berry mead was up on the second floor.

The second time I was testing a theory--that the juniper berry mead respawns--for another poster here. That was several in-game months after my first trip to Helgen. Only one of the bandits in the exterior seemed to have respawned (or it's possible I missed her on my first pass through), the hole in the tower wall still wasn't fixed, and the mead had indeed respawned.

TL;DR: visit Helgen any time after the intro. The mead should be there, unless it's gone and clipped through the floor something.

I'm on the 2nd floor of the inn - fresh from parting ways with Ralof outside the cave - and there are no bottles of juniper mead there. I turned off clipping and explored - and lo and behold! - the bottles all clipped through the floor - they were under the floorboards of the 1st floor. No wonder I've never found them. Thanks for the feedback.

And BTW, the tower still has the hole.

Compare these two -

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/460/holev.jpg
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/299/nohole.jpg

The character with the hole in the wall is 455 ingame days old, with the other one being 76 days old. I don't use any mods that can explain why it happens, but it does from time to time.

I assume you've actually gone into the tower and tried jumping where the gap should be, just to make sure it's not some weird mesh/texture error? Otherwise...I would assume some other odd bug of some sort. I've heard reports of bugs where Alduin never destroys that part of the wall in the intro for whatever reason, for instance. Like I said, my character's been to Helgen twice now. The last time was at around 168 hours (no idea how many in-game days; I'd have to check) in, and the hole in the tower wall was still there.

AFAIK there's no in-game flag or event that's supposed to repair anything Helgen, much less the tower wall.

Yep, the wall is as solid as a solid, uh, wall

I've only had one bug in Helgen ever (on another character) - Alduin wouldn't land on the tower behind the executioner.

lol, that happened to me. It's kind of funny/irritating.

That's weird. In my game, the hole is still there (after +/- 450 hours playtime), only the debris have been cleared so I can get to the top of the tower too ... But well, I'm still on my first character, so the multiple patches could have made it 'glitch' and made it end in the best result for me. At least, on this character.

It's always been there for all my PCs so far.

Yes. I've got them but I had to go back for them after the first mission.