Popular brew pub has been a fixture in the Oak Bluffs dining scene since 1997.
Jeanna Shepard

Offshore Ale Company Set to be Sold

The Offshore Ale Company is changing hands, with a sale of the popular eatery and its Kennebec avenue building expected to close next month for an undisclosed price. Longtime owners Colleen and Phil McAndrews are selling to Bill and Susan Honeycutt of Medford and Edgartown.

The Offshore Ale Company is changing hands, with a sale of the popular eatery and its Kennebec avenue building expected to close next month for an undisclosed price.

Longtime owners Colleen and Phil McAndrews are selling the year-round Oak Bluffs brewery and restaurant to Bill and Susan Honeycutt of Medford and Edgartown, owners of the John Brewer’s Tavern restaurants in Malden and Waltham.

“We hope to be an asset to the community,” Mr. Honeycutt told the Oak Bluffs select board Tuesday, during an online public hearing on transferring the business’s liquor license.

Asked by board member Jason Balboni whether the couple intends to make changes at the restaurant, Mr. Honeycutt said they’re only planning some building renovations, such as windows and paint.

“Our intention is to continue the legacy that Phil and Colleen have built,” he said. “We don’t have plans to do anything that I would consider, in my mind, major.”

Owned by the McAndrewses since 2006, when they bought it from the original owner Robert Skydell, the popular ale house with its signature peanut shells on the floor at 30 Kennebec has long anchored the Oak Bluffs dining scene.

It was listed for sale in 2017, with an asking price of $4.2 million. The owners said at the time that with their last child finishing high school and their other children all grown and living off-Island, they were ready for a change. They also said they were in no hurry and planned to take their time with the sale, to find the right buyer. Both have been active in Island civic life.

Phil McAndrews also attended the meeting Tuesday.

Board members agreed to approve the license transfer, on condition that the current owners discharge their outstanding debt to the town for parking mitigation fees, which are due annually.

Mr. McAndrews said that after years of paying annually, he fell behind after the town invoiced Offshore a five-figure sum for back billing a few years ago, and that the rest will be paid before the business sale closes.

Offshore’s entertainment license will be the subject of a separate board hearing Oct. 26.

At the same meeting, the board plans to act on a request to close Vineyard avenue for Halloween trick or treating.

Among other business Tuesday, the board approved police chief Erik Blake’s request to re-hire recently retired Lieut. Timothy Williamson as a special police officer.

“He wants to stay on, do some details [specific-duty assignments] and have his knowledge and wisdom and years of experience still be part of the police department,” Chief Blake said, noting a growing trend of rehiring retired personnel with expertise that still can benefit organizations.

Instead of working patrol shifts, Lieutenant Williamson will be able to train other officers in firearms and Taser use, tactical teamwork and other areas in which he has been trained, the chief said.

Also Tuesday, town administrator Deborah Potter told the board that when the books close on 2021, she expects an influx of free cash from revenue including $536,000 in short-term rental taxes, $305,000 in lodging taxes from hotels and inns and $182,000 in meal taxes.

“We might be getting very high receipts this year,” Ms. Potter said, while warning that the town can’t count on the same thing happening in 2022.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 09:28

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Ken Rusczyk OB

All the best to Phil and Colleen, they became great friends and part of the Oak Bluff's community. I've met Bill and he is the real deal and will bring new energy and continue Offshore's great connection to our town.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 09:42

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Bill OB

Good luck to the new owners.. hopefully we can get a bigger bar seating area…Never bar seating in a brewery

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 15:32

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robert skydell Granada, Nicaragua

Wonderful news for both buyer and seller.
Phil and Colleen have done an extraordinary job over the last 15 years and I wish them all the best in wherever their lives lead them after Offshore Ale.
The brewery is coming up on its 25th anniversary and it has become exactly what I had always hoped and expected it would become; the community´s living room, a place where everyone was welcome year round.
I had very high expectations for Offshore Ale under the leadership of Phil and Colleen and they never let me down. I hope that one day I´ll be saying the same of the new owners when the brewery turns fifty.
Forge On!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 16:58

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Jimmy OB

Good luck to the new owners! Great place the best food in OB by far!
I know some other restaurant have been struggling with staffing etc….if you put out a good product people will come and return

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 11:09

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T Bone Oak Bluffs

The John Brewer Tavern in Malden is very good. Looking forward to a continuation of great things.

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