What Is A Rail Drink At The Bar, And Is It Different From A Well Drink?
Well-traveled drinkers may have had the awkward experience of ordering their go-to staple only to be greeted with blank stares. Sometimes the confusion stems from the fact that a regional cocktail may not have made it over state lines, other times it's because the bartender has genuinely never heard the term. One bartender visiting Oregon from Virginia ordered a rail drink at a local watering hole and was met with a lot of head scratching — so they turned to the Reddit thread r/bartenders to see if others, outside of the East Coast, had heard of a "rail drink."
Responses were mixed, with some Redditors claiming that the knowledge gap might be due to rail drinks being more of an industry term than the more common well-drink moniker. When it comes down to it, a rail drink and a well drink are the same thing. Regardless of which term you use, both, mean the same thing: Mixed drinks featuring less-expensive house liquor. People on the thread immediately disproved the regional theory, with one Massachusetts bartender saying they'd never, in their 15 years behind the bar, heard the term rail. Some said the confusion between the terms was experiential generational even, with bar industry stalwarts knowing the term, but newbies being in the dark.
Where does the term rail drink come from?
Rail drinks and well drinks are so interchangeable, that even their definitions have the same origin story. A rail drink is named after the "speed rail" section of the bar. The speed rail is a little basin (or well) beneath the bar directly in front of the bartender, where all their cheaper-easy-to-access liquors are. This hidden prep section of the bar is also known as the "well," hence where you get the terms rail and well. Some renegades don't use either term and instead, opt for house as their drink of choice descriptor.
It's hard to say why some people know it as a rail drink while others have never heard of the term. Another thread on r/bartending, also suggests that the differences might be regional, however, everyone agrees that well is the most popular term. Some bartenders even pointed out that not all of the bottles kept in the rail are cheaper liquors, which would disqualify them from either term. So if you're looking to get your cocktail cheap and fast, order it as a well drink, if you're looking to strike up a conversation bartender, your best bet is to order a rail drink and see what happens.