USA, NC: Pig Pounder Brewery to open in Greensboro

Pig Pounder Brewery will open in Greensboro this fall, News-record.com reported on April, 25.

The new brewery is named for a brew that was served by Darryl’s in the late 1980s. The brew was nicknamed “Pig Pounder” because it was 16 ounces and had a pig on the label, William “Marty” Kotis III says.

Kotis, a local real estate developer who plans to open the brewery, bought the last Darryl’s three years ago and, after significant renovations, reopened it as Darryl’s Wood Fired Grill in Greensboro.

Kotis has built a notable beer program at Darryl’s. Pig Pounder Brewery will supply signature brews to the restaurant.

“We’ve been focused on craft beer at Darryl’s,” Kotis says.

The major focus of the brewery, however, is to supply Kotis’ other Greensboro restaurants, which include The Marshall Free House, a British gastro pub expected to open this summer, and an unnamed gourmet burger restaurant that will open this fall.

At The Marshall Free House, Kotis plans to offer cask ale — a popular UK-style beer that is unfiltered and unpasteurized and is stored without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. These factors limit the shelf life of the brew. For that reason, importing is a challenge. So Kotis decided to brew his own.

“We’ll be able to produce those cask beers ourselves and have a lot of control,” he says.

Pig Pounder joins Triad breweries that include Red Oak Brewery and Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. in Greensboro and Foothills Brewery in Winston-Salem.

But, Kotis says, “It will have the cool factor of a wedge brewery, offering unique beers. We’re not trying to produce mainstream beers, but more interesting beers.”

25 April, 2012