ROGGIE'S

By COURTNEY COX | PHOTOS BY JOSHUA PITTS

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Roggie's is a straight-up Boston College joint. A BU-grad myself, I may have had some preconceived notions of the crowd—tame, football jersey-clad, probably sipping session beers. I wasn't disappointed. When I tell our server, Maxine, that I'm about to down five drinks before 5pm, she kind of cocks her head. "Like, beers?" So begins the bloat-fest.

Drink 1: Sam Adams Octoberfest ($5.50). "Seasonal!" Maxine proclaims, plunking down the glass with such authority as to banish every Sam Summer from the city till next year. This seasonal has a rep as one of Sam's weakest, but on a chilly, overcast day, I welcome the autumn-hued brew. What more could say fall except ... FOOTBALL!—the backbone of this restaurant/beer bar, as evidenced by the myriad flat-screens lining the walls, and, apparently, my third-drink-in notes: "Buffalo takes lead in fourth quarter."

Drink 2: Bud Light ($2.50). Not being able to ID which of the Budweiser-Miller-Coors triumvirate is most favored, I turn to Maxine, who informs us it's Bud Light (which my friends had predicted). Because it's more of a sit-down place, the cramped tables isolate fans of different ilk. No fun! So I tip my chair back and ask the three guys behind me which team they're routing for. "Bengals!" "Panthers!" "Bears!" the BC sophomores yell, hardly ungluing their eyes from the screens. I feel like I'm on three bad dates at once, punctuating my small talk with apologies for distracting them. "This is the most whack play ever. Watch!" commands one of the trio. And I do.

Drink 3: Mudslide ($6). Nothing screams "fake ID" like frozen drinks after 11pm (or so a surly bouncer once told me on my way out). But Roggie's only has a cordial license (they don't serve hard liquor, just liqueurs), so this is one of the strongest drinks you can order. I'll take it. My friends, who've graciously enabled my burgeoning afternoon-drinking habit for two weekends in a row, have ordered clam chowder and a heaping plate of mussels. A teensy more upscale than usual pub grub, Roggie's food is pretty delicious. And they deliver!

Drink 4: Roggie's Barracuda ($5.50). Combing through the chunky paragraph of a beer list, I find this beer discreetly tucked in the middle. It's a hoppy 5-percent IPA draft, and as I wait for the bartender to find out where it's brewed, I meet barstool-warmer Jeremy Parker. "Really, I was here at 11:30 because I wanted a cocktail and couldn't get into a bar," he tells me. As the Pats game has started, Parker won't be leaving anytime soon.

Drink 5: White Russian ($5.50). Adequately bloated, I sip on my very tasty (but thankfully weak) drink, and finally work up the nerve to approach the huge table filled with men of all ages—not as hot as it sounds. "It's a good time with the family," Gene Spivak explains, his two sons in tow. A multiple-family venture, it's the group's first time at Roggie's. I ask 12-year-old Josh what he's drinking—"Organic milk." I tell him there's milk in my drink too. High five.