Pig Pounder Releases 'No Filter'

Pig Pounder Releases 'No Filter'

NEW IMPERIAL STOUT FROM PIG POUNDER BREWING FEATURES 'NO FILTER' 3D IMAGE OF PRESIDENT DONALD ON BOTTLE

Depending on the lens, you either see Trump as presidential ... or a pig. Sound familiar? 


GREENSBORO, N.C. — Pig Pounder Brewery is proud to announce its newest creation — No Filter, an imperial stout aged for 12 months in bourbon barrels. 


Inside the bottle? Notes of coconut, chocolate, vanilla and charred oak with a biting contrast of roasted barley, burnt caramel sugar and smoke.


But the bottle itself will create a buzz – and not just because it requires 3D glasses. 


Look at the bottle through the red lens and you'll see a nice image of President Donald Trump. 


Look through the blue lens and you'll see a pig. 


Look without the glasses – i.e., through "no filter" – and both Trump and the pig appear. 


The message: We're living in an era where people see politics as black or white. Too many people look at Trump through a single lens, only as a hero or only as a pig. 


"The reality is somewhere in the middle," said Marty Kotis, the Greensboro developer, restaurateur and art curator who owns Pig Pounder Brewery.


Now Kotis is featuring the image on every bottle of No Filter. And he's ready for more controversy.


""The bottle is a fun way to present the artwork," he said. "It's eye-catching. Different. Neat. Do you notice it? Does it make you talk about it? This image is commercially viable. It's capitalism."


The image is a replica of the giant "No Filter" 3D mural inside the microbrewery, taproom and entertainment pavilion in Greensboro's Midtown section. It was the brainchild of Kotis and Insane51, a Greek muralist and 3D pioneer. In 2018, Kotis and Insane51 were brainstorming ideas for the installation when Insane51 suggested a 3D image of the late actor Dennis Hopper and a pig – a tie to the Pig Pounder name and logo.


But the idea of using Trump actually came from Kotis, a fiscal conservative and a Republican long active in North Carolina politics. The President's boorish behavior often offends Kotis, who doesn't consider himself a Trump supporter even though he approves of some of the administration's economic policies.


"He seemed like a really good fit for the piece. Trump hasn't had a typical presidential filter," he said. "He has acted like a pig."


Once word of the mural spread, Kotis started getting angry posts on his social media accounts. Liberals accused him of glorifying someone who is morally bankrupt. Conservatives claimed he was vilifying the Commander in Chief — with some even suggesting that Kotis was no longer a "good Republican."


Which proves the point "No Filter" was created to make.


"I don't feel like I'm a bad Republican because I poke fun of our President and question him," said Kotis, who missed the cut to appear on the second season of the Trump-hosted "The Apprentice" in 2004. "I won't display blind loyalty. The problem right now is that the public sees every Republican as Trump. And that's not true."


Kotis hopes the artwork generates interest in both No Filters — the beer and the image. Contemporary art prompts people to think more deeply about the world, he said. With a little luck, maybe the new beer will give people something to discuss.


"It’s a way to get people to sit down at a bar and have a conversation," he said.


For more information, contact Marty Kotis at (336) 209-0000.