Where To Find A Bar's Well Liquors If There's No Menu

If you find yourself in a bar and not seeking beer, wine, or a non-alcoholic beverage, chances are you're going to want to know what well liquors are available. More elaborate cocktails involving novel or luxury ingredients tend to go on menus, while classic well drinks don't. Let's say you just want an easy-going well drink, or know that while it's gotten a bad rap in the past, well liquor is actually the right move for many tipples because a value option will suffice. Without those options appearing on a menu, how can you tell what brand of liquor you're going to get if you order a gin and tonic or whiskey smash? We turned to a seasoned bar pro for help, and the answer is refreshingly effortless. 

"Look at their speed rail," says Saeed "Hawk" House, owner and bartender at Cocktails by Hawk LLC. "That will tell you everything you need to know about their well selection." A speed rail, also called a speed bar or speed rack, is a steel shelf that hangs behind the bar at about knee height so bartenders can grab bottles for simpler drinks that are frequently ordered and for orders that don't specify specific, high-end spirits. If you can spot the speed rail, you'll see the liquor brands the bar uses for well drinks.

The bartending term "well drink" actually derives from that speed rack: The rail is considered the "well." A bar picks the brands it finds best within the lower-cost category and places them in that well for all of the drinks that don't "call" for a brand — those are "call drinks," like a Jack and Coke with Jack Daniels. There's even a known order many bars use for their well liquors on the speed rail, which can be handy to know if you want to quickly identify what you're about to get in your drink. It goes rum, vodka, gin, brandy, whiskey, scotch, bourbon, and tequila. The exception might be if you're at a bar that specializes in certain drinks, like a Mexican-leaning spot using lots of tequila and mezcal. 

If you're not sure if what you want to order is considered a well drink, think about how simple it is — well drinks only have a few ingredients — as well as how common, and whether you ever specify the brand of spirits you want in it. Some of the best known well drinks include things like that aforementioned gin and tonic, vodka sodas, whiskey sours, margaritas, and mojitos. If a mojito is your go-to, check the speed rail to determine what kind of rum you'll be getting, and if it's not one of your favorites, you can request something from the middle or even top shelf.