FOOD NEWS
Is A Bar's Rail Drink The Same As A Well Drink?
BY Marina S.
Those traveling may have ordered their favorite drink only to be met with confusion, such as the case of one bartender from Virginia who ordered a rail drink in Oregon.
Some on the Reddit thread r/bartenders claimed the knowledge gap might be due to rail drinks being more of an industry term than the more common well-drink moniker.
Regardless of which term you use, both mean the same thing: Mixed drinks featuring less-expensive house liquor. Rail drinks and well drinks even share the same origin story.
A rail drink is named after the bar's "speed rail" section, the little basin beneath the bar directly in front of the bartender where all the cheaper-easy-to-access liquors are.
This hidden prep section of the bar is also known as the "well," which is where the terms rail and well come from.