Hamlet & Ghost Cocktail Bar

Hamlet & Ghost is a cocktail bar and restaurant at 24 Caroline Street, at the corner of Putnam Street in downtown Saratoga Springs. Brendan Dillon, who grew up in the city, and Dennis Kiingati opened the bar in 2016 in a building that had been an 1870s feed and grain store and later a hardware store, with little renovation for about 80 years before they took it over.

The name comes from the saying that a town without a tavern is like Hamlet without the ghost. Cocktails made with house syrups, juices, bitters and tinctures built the reputation, and the food menu has grown into a serious dinner program over the years. Candlelit tables, the skull logo and typewriter-font menus set the tone.

What to know

• Opened in 2016 by Brendan Dillon and Dennis Kiingati.
• The same owners opened Familiar Creature, a wine bar on Phila Street, in 2025.
• The building was a hardware store that served as a Prohibition-era front for gambling, according to the owner.
• Reservations are taken online.