How This Burger And Sandwich Shop 40 Miles From Denver Smokes Meat In A Giant Gun

For those who haven't spent much time around Denver, Colorado, the whole area is quite the dining haven with Michelin-starred restaurants, Guy Fieri favorites, and some of the best club sandwiches you can find in the U.S. Even nearby Boulder once earned the honor of America's Foodiest Town, and there are award-winning restaurants up in the Rocky Mountains themselves. What doesn't get much attention on the food front (or most fronts, really) is the wide-open area east of the Denver metro region, far away from the mountains and ski life that first made Colorado famous. But now, it seems one small town restaurant is trying to change that. And they're doing it by smoking meat out of a massive, see-it-from-the-street gun.

This is Shooters Bar & Grill of Byers, Colorado, a town with just 1,800 residents (as of 2023 data) sitting about 45 miles outside of Denver. Though thanks to Shooters' giant smoking gun, the town can't be said to be lacking in size these days. Shooters' menu is pretty expansive, with a large selection of burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, in addition to appetizers and sides, but the gun-smoked meat is what really sets it apart. According to Atlas Obscura, the gun gets fired up every Thursday to prepare brisket, prime rib, pulled pork, and sausage links for the restaurant's BBQ weekend specials.

Smoking meat with a huge gun might sound crazy, or just gimmicky, but the restaurant's methodology appears to be sound. The gun itself is shaped like a Colt 45 revolver that certainly catches the eye, but it is just a really uniquely shaped smoker. There's a hatch in the base (the gun's handle or action, for the aficionados out there) for the firebox, and the barrel serves as a sideways chimney stack. The cooking chamber, meanwhile, is concealed inside the cylinder, which opens up to multiple cooking grates. Just like any grill or smoker, how you use it — right down to meat selection and making sure you use the best wood for certain flavors — is going to have a bigger outcome than the actual shape of the appliance itself. Obviously though, this one adds an extra layer of coolness that you might not get at your average BBQ spot.

Interestingly, the restaurant (which opened in June 2023) didn't even have its gun until September 2024, replacing its more traditional-looking smoker. While it may appear the restaurant would have ordered its landmark directly, the owners actually won it in a charity auction with a bid of $32,500. The gun-shaped smoker was a custom design from local Colorado welder and fabricator XS Design LLC, and it does not appear any others were built, making this one-of-a-kind.

If you're in Denver, it'll take about an hour or longer to reach Shooters, depending on where you're starting. But is going this far for gun-smoked meat actually worth the trek? The restaurant's reviews are positive overall, with diners praising both the service and the food. Some have also described it as a great food option to have in an otherwise limited area and a good spot to stop off the highway. However, some of the reviews have been more lukewarm, saying the food was mediocre and took a while to come out.

That said, it's worth noting the majority of reviews appear to be about the restaurant's non-smoked menu items. This may be because the smoker is only used on specific days for specialty meat items rather than menu mainstays, which hammers home another point: If you're hoping to find out what gun-smoked meat tastes like, be sure to check Shooters' social media announcements or call ahead to make sure you're going on the right day. In the meantime, if you've got a smoker at home or know someone who does, you can still satisfy those cravings by following a few basic meat smoking tips. Hey, your smoker might not look as cool, but the meat should still taste good if you smoke it right.