Ghost Saloon sits at 1422 Larimer Street in the basement that once held Green Russell, the cocktail room that defined Denver's speakeasy era for more than a decade. The new bar opened in September 2024 under Handsome Boys Hospitality, and it keeps the address pointed at serious drinking rather than nostalgia.
Anyone who misses a quiet, low-lit cocktail room in the heart of Larimer Square will love it. Anyone after a loud patio or a quick beer will not, because the room runs intimate, the entrance stays understated, and the focus lands on spirits and classics.
The space reads as a hidden room reached through a small welcome area, a setup Westword described when the bar debuted in the former Green Russell space. Exposed brick, soft light, and a Prohibition-era tunnel that connects to the neighbouring Disco Pig give the room a genuine sense of history. By day part of the front doubles as retail for Hats by Parker Thomas, which is unusual and worth knowing before you arrive.
The drinks lean on a deep back bar of rare and collectible bottles alongside a tight list of well-built classics. Expect Denver cocktail pricing in the fifteen to eighteen dollar range, with a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned the safe opening move and the bartender's choice the better one if you name a spirit and a mood. Light snacks support the program; this is a drinking room, not a dinner stop.
Ghost Saloon opens Tuesday through Sunday from 4pm, running to midnight midweek and to 2am on Friday and Saturday, and it closes Monday. The early evening is the calm window for conversation and a seat at the bar. After nine on a weekend Larimer Square fills, and the room follows. The nearest light rail is Theatre District Convention Center on the D and H lines, a short walk south.
Who it is for: a date that wants atmosphere over volume, a spirits enthusiast working a rare list, and anyone who wants to drink where one of the city's great cocktail rooms used to stand. Skip it if you came to Larimer Square for a rowdy night out.
Green Russell ran from 2010 until the end of 2022, when Asana Partners took over Larimer Square and the cocktail room closed. Denverite covered the staff's final night as the end of an institution. Ghost Saloon does not try to recreate it. The new bar keeps the basement bones and the tunnel but builds its own identity around collectible spirits and a smaller, sharper list, which is the right call for a room that already carries this much history.
The back bar is the reason to come. The team pours rare bourbon, agave spirits, and amaro that rarely appear by the glass elsewhere in the city, and a knowledgeable bartender will steer a flight if you ask. For a first visit, open with a classic to read the house hand, then let the bar build something around a spirit you want to explore. The pace stays unhurried, which suits the room and the seating, where small groups get the best of it and a party of six is a stretch.
Ghost Saloon also reflects a wider Denver shift, where hidden cocktail rooms have moved from novelty to a permanent part of the scene. It reads as a peer to American Bonded and Williams and Graham rather than a tourist gimmick, and the central Larimer Square address keeps it inside an easy walk of dinner on Larimer or a show at the nearby theatres. The retail-by-day, bar-by-night format is the one genuinely odd note, so do not be thrown if the front looks like a hat shop when you arrive.
See where it lands in our best cocktail bars in Denver ranking, and read it against the wider Denver bar guide.
Sources: Ghost Saloon official site (ghostdenver.co, 2026); Denver Westword; Larimer Square; Yelp (updated Feb 2026).
