BU’s Little Secret: Knights of the pub tables

Boston University’s campus is teeming with knights.

But while BU Trustee and British Parliament member Sir Brian Mawhinney earned his title through political service, hundreds in the BU community have become knighted for quite a different feat: imbibing 52 drinks at the BU Pub.

College of Communication senior Adam Ostrowski and three others became Knights of Gunnungagap in a midnight ceremony that finally clued Ostrowski into the details of the secretive affair.

‘You hear a lot of different things about the ceremony,’ he said beforehand. ‘It’s almost like a cult. So I’m excited, with a touch of nervousness.’

Though Ostrowski had his last of the 52 drafts, bottled beers, Smirnoff Ice flavors, a Long Island Iced Tea and a Red Death (just as potent as a LIT, but with fruit juices) on Nov. 7, he waited another week to get knighted to make sure the hockey team he loves was on the road during the ceremony.

‘I’ve jokingly said it’s the one thing I could accomplish during my four years at BU,’ he said.

But the quest did pose some challenges for the Guinness fan: he barely escaped the Coors Light he despises because it was out of stock, the beers mixed with hard cider were ‘kind of on the rough side,’ drinking Smirnoff Ice was more ’embarrassing to drink than anything else’ and McEwan’s Scotch Ale ‘tasted like somebody took a beer and dropped a shot of J’B scotch into it.’

However, he said he enjoyed trying such a wide variety of beers and had a great time getting all his friends to come watch his knighting.

HOW IT WORKS

Getting together a big group of friends at the pub on Bay State Road is the crucial first step for the ceremony. Those companions then come up with several names for the new knight, generally striving for ones with the greatest embarrassment factor.

The bar staff puts these names on each knight’s mug by printing out sticky clear labels with black lettering. On Friday night, they included such monikers as ‘Sir O-Train,’ ‘Red Shirt, Red Shorts,’ ‘Firecracker,’ ‘Moaner Lisa’ and ‘Deep Sea Diver in the Red Sea.’

Once the relatively slow process wraps up, all knights are summoned to the bar for a free mug fill-up (at other times they get $1 off the bar’s 12 drafts), and the new inductees line up along the bar. A bartender than reads off the epithets and they kneel down for a dubbing that mocks a real ceremony a sword about three feet long comes off a wall and is touched to each shoulder.

‘It’s kind of like a roast,’ Ostrowski said. ‘You’re down on your knees and pretty vulnerable. The other people there say whatever they want about you, and you’re just stuck there.’

Finally, all the knights read off their own names to even more laughter the second time around and then chug the contents of their mugs.

The mugs including an identifying number and a logo of a knight with a beer mug are then shelved behind the bar for knights to request whenever they return. Though they can also embark on a lord’s quest of 52 shots and cocktails, Ostrowski said he might hold off after completing his first quest in just two months.

‘As it kept piling up, my bank account started depleting, so I figured I’d get it over with,’ he said. ‘I might save the lord’s quest for next semester.’

With the drinks on the quest ranging from $3 to $5.50, knights’ wallets are tested along with their ‘traits of worthiness, such as motivation, endurance and (most importantly) taste,’ as stated on the cards questers get initialed for each drink on the list.

KEEPING IT QUIET

On Nov. 7, three lords completed their ceremonies earning spaces for their names with 25 others on a plaque along with four new knights, including College of Arts and Sciences senior and pub employee Jessica Babine.

‘It was a really great time,’ she said. ‘Everyone gets involved.’

Though she has been barbacking, busing tables and making sandwiches at the pub for two years, she said she has enjoyed the ‘chill place’ even more since she turned 21 on June 10.

‘The atmosphere is awesome,’ Babine said, noting that professors have occasionally held classes in the pub toward the end of semesters. ‘Who wouldn’t want to chill with a professor, discuss what you’ve been learning and have a beer and a great sandwich?’

The sandwich bar serves up traditional fare like BLTs, grilled cheese and turkey clubs, along with 20 specialty sandwiches.

The Master’s fits turkey, roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, salami, three cheeses and hot sauce between three slices of bread; the Failure combines turkey, ham, bacon, cheddar cheese and hot sauce; and the Architect involves roast beef, herb cream cheese, diced pepperonici, Bengal sauce and hot sauce. All the sandwiches come hot, cold or grilled, are available on a variety of breads with potato chips or pretzels and cost about $5.

Babine’s one suggestion for improving the BU Pub is to encourage more dancing, which only shakes things up on Friday nights.

‘After 9 [p.m.] we can play a bigger range of music,’ she said. ‘During the day, it’s more relaxing.’

While the pub is generally busiest during lunch time, Babine called it ‘the best kept secret at BU.’

Part of its secretive nature it’s hidden in the basement of the Castle and only has a one-foot by two-and-a-half foot red sign stems from the pub’s private club license that prohibits it from advertising.

Along with a driver’s license or standard proof of being at least 21, patrons must show a BU ID or have the student, alumnus, trustee, faculty or staff member they are with sign them in as a guest.

Joshua Hubbard, director of Dining Services, which runs the pub, said they ‘go out of our way not to advertise’ the ‘low-key location’ and rely on word of mouth instead.

‘The university is trying to take a responsible approach to the service of alcohol,’ he said. ‘It’s not meant to be a destination for undergraduates.’

The cozy, wood-paneled bar features maroon carpet, TVs, traditional mirrored bar signs and low ceilings. Twelve tables and 12 bar stools line the long walls of the L-shaped pub, with nine stools along the bar itself and another six tables in back.

Hubbard said the BU Pub relies mostly on faculty, staff and graduate students to fill the chairs and couches around the tables that fit about two to eight people.

‘It’s a great meeting spot for graduate student programs,’ he said. ‘Sometimes a professor will invite a group of students to get together, or students will gather in the late afternoon to study. I’m not sure how much studying they actually get done though.’

He estimated that less than 100 knights complete the quest each year, saying it isn’t ‘a driving part’ of the pub’s business because about half of their business comes from lunch.

The pub, which opened sometime in the 1970s, also maintains its relaxed atmosphere by operating from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 11:30 a.m. to midnight on Thursdays and Fridays. Hubbard said the bar generally winds down by about 8 or 9 p.m. and being open on weekends isn’t ‘fiscally viable.’

While he refused to share data about how much money the pub rakes in for BU, he said the establishment doesn’t encounter many of the problems that can plague other bars, like fights, belligerent drunks or underage drinking.

‘We don’t want to become the hot party spot in town,’ he said. ‘It occupies a pretty comfortable niche in what it is … It’s more about being a great meeting place than a drinking place.’

NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT

As second-year School of Medicine student John Perry helped select knighting names for his friend Craig Masse Friday night, he said the pub ‘promotes unity and school spirit,’ though he has no desire to do the quest.

‘There’s a lot of poor quality beers that I don’t want to drink,’ he said. ‘I’m all about quality beer. But I’m also all about watching other people drink [expletive] beers.’

Though some of the less-tasty brews also initially deterred Masse, who got a doctorate in chemistry in 2001, he finally started the quest about four months ago.

‘As a graduate student, my time and money were limited, so it made more sense to do it after,’ he said.

Masse, who also attended Harvard University, said he frequently comes back to the pub with other alumni.

‘It just feels like home,’ he said. ‘It’s much more relaxed than most bars … There’s the sense of letting go of the day and relaxing with friends. We didn’t have anything like it at Harvard.’

As Kate Slepyan hung out with fellow School of Hospitality Administration senior Marie Mahoney on Monday afternoon, she also said she appreciates the rarity of a university-operated bar, though it changes the atmosphere.

‘It’s a lot different than an actual pub in Ireland,’ Slepyan said. ‘It’s not smoky, for one thing. It’s a lot more clean cut and less dirty.’

However, Mahoney said she likes ‘it for what it is’ and only wishes she could use convenience points for beer as well as food.

‘That would be amazing,’ she said. ‘BU would make so much more money.’