Well drink
Bar orderA well drink is a house-brand spirit, ordered without a brand name, usually with a basic mixer.
Also called: rail drink · call drink
What well drink means
Order a drink without a brand name and you get the bar's house bottle. Those bottles sit in the well, the speed rail below the bar top, within the bartender's reach. That is where the name comes from. Gin and tonic is a well drink, but Tanqueray and tonic is not.
Bars keep at least a vodka, gin, rum, tequila and whiskey in the well. A well drink is usually one spirit with a basic mixer, such as soda, tonic, cola or cranberry juice. Vodka cranberry is a typical example. Some bars run $2 wells during happy hour, which means any house spirit with a basic mixer for $2. Prices vary by bar and city.
You may have heard that well drink means a weak drink. It does not. The pour matches a call drink. What changes is the bottle. Compare that with top shelf, which uses the bar's most expensive bottles. Some upscale bars stock better brands in the well, so the house pour is a better bottle. A Moscow mule may cost more than a well drink even when the bar uses its house vodka, since it has extra ingredients. Ask the bartender.
How to order a well drink
Name the spirit and the mixer, and leave off the brand, to get the house pour.
- Gin and tonic.A house gin with tonic, at the lower well price. The pour matches a call drink.
- Vodka cranberry.House vodka with cranberry juice at the well price. Name a brand and it becomes a call drink.
- Rum and Coke.House rum with cola at the well price. Naming a brand turns it into a call drink, at a higher price.
Well drink compared
- Call drinkYou name the brand, as in Tanqueray and tonic, and the bar charges more than the well price.
- Top shelfTop shelf is the bar's most expensive bottles. A well drink uses the cheapest house bottles instead.
- Premium wellA premium well is a house pour with better brands, found at some upscale bars.
Examples
- Gin and tonic
- Rum and Coke
- Vodka cranberry
- Scotch and soda
- Vodka soda
- Whiskey and Coke
Related terms
Ingredients
Put it to use in your next drink
Garçon explains every step as you make the drink.