Rail drinks, well drinks??

[71charger_fan]

I hear bars and nightclubs advertise specials on one or the other quite frequently. I'm embarrassed to admit that, at almost 50 years old, I have no idea what the terms mean.

[Shakey]

I know well drinks are like a rye & ginger or a rum & coke - mixed drinks.

Not sure about rail drinks.

[last426]

I hear bars and nightclubs advertise specials on one or the other quite frequently. I'm embarrassed to admit that, at almost 50 years old, I have no idea what the terms mean.

My girlfriend didn't know either.  Well drinks are the ones with the generic booze, that is normally down in the well on the customer's side of the bar.  As opposed to top shelf, or call drinks that are made with named booze normally on the back bar wall.  So if you order a screwdriver it is made with generic vodka, if it's an Absolut screwdriver, it's made with absolut and is more expensive.  My family used to own a bar and I spent my mis-spent youth there.  I have never heard of rail drinks but I bet it is one or the other. Kim

[Johnny SixPack]

I hear bars and nightclubs advertise specials on one or the other quite frequently. I'm embarrassed to admit that, at almost 50 years old, I have no idea what the terms mean.

My girlfriend didn't know either.  Well drinks are the ones with the generic booze, that is normally down in the well on the customer's side of the bar.  As opposed to top shelf, or call drinks that are made with named booze normally on the back bar wall.  So if you order a screwdriver it is made with generic vodka, if it's an Absolut screwdriver, it's made with absolut and is more expensive.  My family used to own a bar and I spent my mis-spent youth there.  Kim

Bingo.

Well drinks are made with the cheapo stuff like Kim pointed out.

Never heard of the term 'rail' used in reference to any type of drink, but maybe it's a bar specific term for the top-shelf stuff.

Or maybe it's the tap beer (i.e. the rail the taps feed from).

[71charger_fan]

I think I'll just stick to beer. Perhaps it was something that sounded like rail and I misunderstood. One of the few things I do hear well is when my wife gets frustrated with me and tells me I need a hearing aid.

[Mudhawg]

i heard rail dirnks is all spilled crap that collects at the bar after its spilled and they serve it to all the high quality drunks.

[Orange_Crush]

When I was tending bar, rail drinks were also known as "top shelf" drinks.  They were the expensive liquors.

Well drinks are the cheap stuff so named because, as they are the bottles most often reached for, they are kept in a "well" (actually a wide trough) within easy reach of the bartender.

At a decent bar, the well bourbon is usually Jim Beam while the rail bourbon is Maker's Mark or Booker's.  The Well Vodka will be red-label Smirnoff while the Rail will be Grey Goose.

[Old Moparz]

i heard rail dirnks is all spilled crap that collects at the bar after its spilled and they serve it to all the high quality drunks.

Ever hear of Buffalo Sweat?

Ingredients:
3/4 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
1/4 oz Tabasco® sauce
1 oz orange juice
1 oz of fluid from bar rag

Pour 151 proof rum and tabasco sauce into a stainless shaker over ice, shake until completely cold and strain into an old-fashioned glass. Pour a 1/4 cup of orange juice over the bar, clean up with the bar rag then squeeze 1 oz. out of bar rag into the drink.
(Serve to the nastiest customer.)

[RD]

i heard rail dirnks is all spilled crap that collects at the bar after its spilled and they serve it to all the high quality drunks.

I have heard of those, but they just call them barmats where I am from.

[Telvis]

  Yuck!! Bar Rag juice!

I can't hardly drink anymore. I lover beer but it seems like every time I drink I get a terrible headache. I am to the point now that I drink very seldom. I had some Makers a week or two ago. I felt like crap for two days. If I drink even one or two beers I will have a headache within an hour or so. Same thing with hard liquor. I'm being punished for my reckless youth.

[derailed]

Wow, just ran that one by my wife. She has been waitressing and bartending for almost 20 years and never heard the term "rail drink" I wouldnt mind trying one though

[Dodge-Charger]

around here rail drinks are anything from a bottle
Well Drinks come from a tap

[BigBlockSam]

he y
  i bartended acouple of yrs. behind the bar and down by the coolers and sinks there is a shelf that goes across the length of the bar. there made of metal rails. thats where they keep the cheap or common bottles, easy and fast to grab . thats the rail. so rail drinks just means not top shelf liquor. i just made myself thirsty. Rene