DENVER — At Post Oak Barbecue along Tennyson Street, Coloradans can get a taste of Texas without having to travel.
The owner, bar manager, and pitmaster are all originally from the Lone Star State.
"As soon as I smell it, I just like, feel like I'm back home," Timothy Goolsby, the bar manager, said. "Obviously, the actual quality of the food is unbelievable. So just being able to eat prime grade brisket all day is pretty, pretty sweet."
Customers who walk into the restaurant, which is full of Texas flags and Shiner Bock beer signs, are sometimes surprised to eat authentic Texas barbecue in Colorado.
"Did I expect any [barbecue]? No, I didn't," Viktor Simco, who was visiting Denver and is originally from Texas, said.
However, sitting around a table and eating food that hails from Texas, it's hard not to think about the flooding that has devastated the Hill Country.
"It does hit close to home with everything that's been happening there with the flash floods. It's not the first one. It probably won't be the last, but it is sad to see," Simco said.
The death toll from the Texas floods rose to 82 people on Sunday. Many more people are still missing, including children from Camp Mystic, a summer camp that was hit by the flooding.
"Every summer, from about middle school until the end of high school, I went down to Kerrville to Schreiner University, because they have a summer camp there for ROTC, JROTC — basically summer leadership course stuff. So, I was there all the time," Goolsby said. "In recent years, we go there a lot because, you know, the Hill Country is like Texas whiskey country."
Those behind the barbecue at Post Oak have been consumed with the tragedy in central Texas.
"The Hill Country has that small town feel with everything that they do," Goolsby said. "All the people are like everyone else in Texas — so hospitable and so nice and so friendly... We've been thinking about it this whole weekend, and trying to figure out what we can do."
Goolsby and the crew at Post Oak formulated a plan for a fundraiser in order to help the Texas community they love. Starting on Tuesday, July 8, one dollar from every Shiner Bock beer that is sold through the end of August will be donated to the American Red Cross. Post Oak Barbecue also intends to match the first $1,000 raised.
"We're going to be giving it to the American Red Cross, just because we know that they're already setting up camps near Kerrville," Goolsby said. "Just to make sure that people know how they can help, just by coming in and having a visit."
"It goes to show, you know, your kind of Texas mentality and the ethos behind what it means to be a Texan," Simco said. "Here to just lend a hand, even though you don't expect anything in return."
Goolsby said the restaurant is working on other ideas with some of their Texas distributors for fundraisers too. He said any other ideas will be posted on their Instagram page.
"It's just giving back, you know. Like, again, every time I'm in that part of Texas, the hospitality blows my mind. You just have to return the favor," Goolsby said. "They're my neighbors, and they need something. They need help."
The American Red Cross has opened shelters in the area of the flooding and is accepting donations. There is also the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund that states it will "direct funds to vetted organizations providing rescue, relief, and recovery efforts as well as flood assistance."
