Old Colony Tap Inc

Real people. This is my criteria for a bar. Well, and cold beer. Oh and some atmosphere. This place has fifty years of all of the above under its belt. Thank you for holding up your grubby little corner of fishing life in a working harbor. Here’s to ya!

the only thing that stops this from being one of my favorite dive bars ever is that it’s not open year round. besides that, it’s great. cheap drinks, good jukebox, no pretensions.

do you ever feel like life is a movie? this is one of those places, it either feels like a movie set or a place you just time traveled to. From the heavily uneven/​squeaky floor to the graffitied bathroom to the shipwreck (raw but real) overall appearance. My favorite bar in Provincetown, hell i’ll even say Cape Cod!

Great dive bar… one of the best.
With as much as I go out and as much as I know about cocktails and wine, it’s nice to learn a thing or two from an old-​tyme bartender… like, the drink anyone outside of Cape Cod calls the «vodka soda with a splash of cran» is actually called a «Rose Kennedy»…nice to know that I’m still learning new things even though I’m in a dive bar pounding drinks.
And, as much as I love listening to and watching the gay guys dance to Madonna, Erasure, etc at Atlantic House, and as much as I find it funny (and sometimes screeching-​ly painful) to listen to the Bachelorette parties, Drag Queens and South Boston Bro’s sing karaōke at Governor Bradford, it’s nice to know that I have a place to retreat to, where I can get away from it all and grab a strong drink without all the annoyances and distractions.
Only distractions here are cheap, strong drinks, bartenders who’ve seen it all, old school fisherman sometimes still smelly with their waders on, and the occasional tourist who can’t take his alcohol and falls off his barstool (as happened when I was there).
The Old Colony Tap is a dying breed, although it shouldn’t be, so make sure you stop by and grab a drink before it’s replaced by another run-​of-​the-​mill college/​bachelorette/​gay/​wine bar blaring Gangman Style/​Bieber/​Wobble Song out of it’s windows.

Perfection in the field of dive bars.
We stopped in here after Art’s Dune Tour (the sunset edition, with dinner) for a couple of drinks. This is a dark, old, scarred dive bar with ship wood and paintings of sailors and harpoons adorning the walls and ceilings. No AC, but plentiful box fans to keep you cool until you’re too drunk to care.
The bartender was a complete space-​cadet of an older woman, floating around behind the bar and serving strong long drinks, draft beer, and wine.
Jukebox, loud music, crooked tables full of carvings, and a fake leg sticking out of the second-​story window on the alleyway. Plus a great view of the Governor Bradford karaōke across the street, and the traffic on Commercial. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would return.

The diveist of dive bars with a p-​town nautical theme of course.
Uneven floors, very dark lighting, phone book on a shelf from 10 years ago, old-​timey metal scuba diving headgear, some whale bones, and of course decades worth of scrambled graffiti on the tables and walls make up the décor here. And I love it.
Couple of beers on tap– the usual gansett, coors, a seasonal Sam Adams, and some others. Seems to have a full bar but I’ve never ordered other drinks.
Plus one star for them staying open later than most other places in town.

Super authentic. Solid drinks. Heavy pour. Attentive service. Definitely drop by for one or four drinks.

My favorite bar in Ptown. I remember when I first came here about a decade ago and asked the bartender if there was a wine list I could look at before I ordered. She looked me up and down, sneered, and said, «No. We have red or white. Which one do you want?» Such warmth, I knew then that this was the bar for me.
One summer, my sister was slowly riding her bike down Commercial Street when some jackass slammed into her knocking her to the ground. He picks himself and his bike up, barely mutters an apology, and speeds away. Classy. So there she is down in the street with a gash in her leg when… she realizes that half the patrons from this bar have rushed outside to help her. Great bar with great people!

Yes, this place is a dark, dive bar that makes you think of sailors & deckhands. In the middle of everything & they have a good selection for drinks plus a jukebox and plenty of character. Definitely stop here!

Best dive in P-​town. No frills. I love it. Don’t be turned off by unfriendly staff and the dark atmosphere… just drink your beer.

This place was awesome! I shot a travel show segment there, and damn we had a blast. My kind of local institution, if I lived in town, I’d definitely be a regular.
If you love a fun, unpretentious dive — this is your spot!
If you’re a fun-​hater, and only satisfied by waxed-​mustache-​farm-​to-​table-​pre-​prohibition-​era-​concept-​10min-​cocktail-​bars, well… I’m apologize for your shortcomings.
They make it real damn easy to have a damn good time!

As has been noted: great dive bar. As in, dive bar for whalers at the turn of the century and updated with electricity and not much else.
Don’t miss the art collection done by a regular (now MIA I hear) who painted just about every body in town. Pretty good stuff in a VanGough kind of way.
This is where I’d go to drink w/​a pal or 4 after a day at the beach if they weren’t all going to the Tea Dance.
Also– order beer in bottles. The Taps are a tad unpredictable in quality…

Came here to watch the world cup. It was OK. Beers are not outrageous but not cheap. Maybe its cheap for ptown. Its pretty divey (in a wonderful way) and I can imagine would be pretty fun at a more busy time then a beautiful sunday afternoon

I’ve been to a few dive bars in my life and this one takes the cake. There’s an interesting cast of characters when you walk in. You’re not going to be greeted with smiles and open arms. You’ll be lucky if you get a head nod. There a 3 – 4 beers on tap, some bottled beer, and a great selection of low quality booze. I opted for a few drafts and they were reasonably priced for Provincetown. The juke box in this place is to die for. A great selection of old school hits with some 90’s music mixed in. No Justin Bieber here.
The floors are all over the place here. I don’t think there’s a right angle in the joint and nothing is level. That just adds to the atmosphere. Bathrooms are semi clean and open. If you need to go for 2 it’s not the best place.
If your a pretentious douche you’re not going to enjoy this place. If you want a cold beer at a decent price without any hassle this is a great choice enjoy!

I still have bizarre half memories about coming here when I was in my early teens. Can’t remember if I came with adults or just sort of wandered in to use the can but either way the memories stuck with me and I knew when I was old enough to drink, that i’d be back. And I have. I come to Ptown a couple of times a year and almost always come in here. It’s not overly friendly but people leave you alone and don’t give any unnecessary gruff. For a town where over the top élan is the norm, this place is decidedly basic. This is where you come when you just want to have a beer. A window by the street is worth it in itself. One of the few year round places too which makes a weekend in February worthwile.

If my grandfather was a sea captain, this would be his shanty/​bar. Clean bathrooms, fucked up floors. A+

Spend more than a half hour in this place and become your own character in a strange cartoon. Be careful, the freaks will bite… I met my girlfriend here.

I really like drinking at this bar.
I love the jukebox.
I love how the floor slopes down, as if the whole place is rocking to one side. I feel like I’m drinking on a rickety ship.
However, for a dive bar, the drinks aren’t really cheap enough…

The Old Colony Tap was the first place that I experienced the wonder that is «The Provincetown Pour» — cheap and stiff as heck (or just freaking huge, if it was a glass of wine). Fill that glass up with some ice and my vodka, and feel free to save some room for a splash of soda and the lime. I loved it.
The space was dark and I swear only lit by 2 small bulbs and enough light at the bar to conduct transactions and it was awesome (until I stepped outside and felt like I had to put my sunglasses on at 8pm after the combo of the lighting and 2 of «The Provincetown Pour» drinks). Right on the main strip of P Town stuff, ample seating and tables, a bunch of stools at the bar, a jukebox, a clean bathroom, and I feel like there may have been a video game machine too.
Will I be back? F yeah! If I lived here would this be in my top rotation of dive bars? No question!

When we were walking down the street during the day, we passed this place and just outside there was a biker woman in her 40s wearing a leather vest and chaps with a raspy voice talking to some guy about parking and it was retardedly heated. I thought we had to go into this place at night cause maybe we’d see a knife fight.
I guess this place is one of the «straight» bars in the area and probably the closest thing to a «dive» there. The walls are sort of TGI Fridays-​ish with seemingly random stuff tacked on and stupid country-​esque, Americana, mom-​buying, attempting-​to-​be-​witty «A penny saved is a penny I didn’t spend yet!» placards littered about. Ugh. I bet whoever made that relaxes at home with some «Mad About You» and their two boyfriends, Ben and Jerry! Teehee!
If you’re sitting at the tables, you feel like you’re going to fall sideways right off your chair because everything sort of tilts to the side on the edges. Made me feel drunker than I was.
There were three 50s-​ish guys who looked like the business type, but were in their weekend/​vacation gear of polos, shorts and sockless loafers seated at the bar, but swiveled around on their chairs to scope out the scene. Then some floozys came over and they all started necking and ear nibbling. Ew.
Then some drunk party girls showed up in their short dresses and HUGE platform sandals to pound a quick one and started going crazy when Johnny Cash’s «I Walk the Line» came on and danced with one of the guys while his lady friend plastered a fake smile on her face to show that she’s hip and she’s okay with that. Whatta gal!
The dancing guy got up on the table and was yelled at by the bartender. The party girls left and we all felt like we just experienced the quickest, lamest, Aqua Net-​iest hurricane swirl right on by.
I went back to drinking my weak vodka tonic and folded my arms for the rest of the song. I’m just not a fan of Johnny Cash.