I have to hand it to Boa for being the right place at the right time. After a short uphill trek in ill-advised shoes in awfully desert-like weather, only excessive air conditioning in a strangely staid atmosphere serving up sangria would revive me*.
The prices are a bit high here for what you get, but happy hour will bring them down a touch (though the $6 regular priced sangria evokes no qualms from me).
I ordered the "sage," in addition to the sangria, and I would have expected something very sweet given the proportion of brown sugar syrup I saw the bartender pour in (not on the menu!), but was actually quite mellow (savignon blanc evened it all out I suspect). I couldn't really taste the sage at all, but it must have brought out the other flavors, because there was a lot going on in that little glass. I wasn't too crazy about it, but as a cocktail it was a good effort. I would maybe replace the pineapple juice with something lower in acid.
From what I could gather of Mill Ave, this spot has a much more sophisticated flavor. Seems like a good bet for a touch of class in college town.
*It's a far cry from an earlier image - of melting bag of ice in my lap as we motored through the desert in a air-condition-less older gentleman of a Saab - but it'll do.