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Night Train Express

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Night Train Express
TypeFlavored fortified wine
ManufacturerE. & J. Gallo Winery
DistributorE. & J. Gallo Winery
OriginUnited States
Alcohol by volume17.5
Proof (US)35
ColorRed

Night Train Express, typically referred to as just Night Train, was a discount, flavored fortified wine produced by E. & J. Gallo Winery in the United States. The wine typically contained 17.5% abv and was fortified with brandy to boost the abv.[1]

The wine was one of the products, along with Thunderbird, which helped Gallo become the top-selling winery in California and eventually the United States.[2]

Night Train, like all discount, fortified wines, was controversial amongst civic leaders in major cities who often claimed it contributed to vagrancy and public drunkenness of homeless people.[3] The wine has been described as a "cheap way to get drunk fast"[4] and "as usually hidden by brown bags on Tenderloin street corners."[5] Cities like San Francisco and Seattle banned the sale of Night Train in downtown and skid row areas.[6] In 1989, the Gallo winery, as the result of a federal court case, agreed to stop directly marketing Night Train in "skid row" neighborhoods.[1]

The wine inspired the song Nightrain on the album Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses.[7] It was repeatedly referenced in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, most notably in a scene in which Joliet Jake finishes a bottle and later proclaims "That Night Train is a mean wine".[8]

The wine was discontinued in 2016.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mathews, Jay (22 September 1989). "GALLO, REACTING TO PRESSURE, HALTS CHEAP WINE SALES IN 'SKID ROW' AREAS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  2. ^ Humes, Edward (22 October 2013). A Man and his Mountain: The Everyman who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became AmericaÕs Greatest Wine Entrepreneur. PublicAffairs. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-61039-285-3. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  3. ^ Veseth, Mike (17 July 2013). Extreme Wine: Searching the World for the Best, the Worst, the Outrageously Cheap, the Insanely Overpriced, and the Undiscovered (19 ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-29753-6.
  4. ^ Blackburn, Ian; Levine, Allison (21 April 2008). The Learning Annex Presents The Pleasure of Wine. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-470-33324-2. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  5. ^ Holmes, Robert (26 December 2012). A Traveller's Wine Guide to California. Interlink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62371-015-6. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  6. ^ Murakami, Kery (December 7, 1998). "Alcoholics finding way around ban". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  7. ^ Popoff, Martin (17 June 2025). Guns N' Roses at 40. Motorbooks. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7603-9399-4. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  8. ^ Martin, Scott C. (16 December 2014). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives. SAGE Publications. p. 1404. ISBN 978-1-4833-3108-9. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  9. ^ Dent, Bryan. "Last Stop for Night Train Express". Modern Drunkard Magazine (63). Retrieved 17 October 2025.
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