Guinness Teams up With NFL Legend Joe Montana for Limited-Edition Lager

(Photo: Courtesy of Guinness)

Guinness, NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana and the SF-Marin Food Bank are joining forces for a good cause days ahead of Super Bowl LX.

On Thursday, the Irish beer giant unveiled a limited-edition release that trades the blackish hue of the brand’s signature stout for the crisp yellow of a pale wheat lager. The team says that the beer was inspired by a favorite memory of Montana’s, who discovered wheat beer during a team trip to Germany in the early 1990s. Though Guinness has previously forayed into the world of wheat beer with its now years-old Irish Wheat bottling, Guinness “Legends Lager” is the first from the brand that pays homage to the style’s Bavarian roots.

“I’ve worked with Guinness for a few years now, and we’ve done some great things together,” Montana said in a news release. “But this one feels different. This beer started with a memory—my first wheat beer in Germany, a game trip with teammates for a game we had out there, and realizing how often the best moments happen when you’re together over a pint.”

The beer is available at a suggested retail price of $19.99 per four-pack exclusively in San Francisco, Baltimore and Chicago. It’s canned at 4.3% ABV and is said to boast a “balanced and easy-drinking” flavor (for a wheat beer, that usually means citrusy, wheaty and faintly bitter).

Guinness is donating $5 from every four-pack to the SF-Marin Food Bank, a nonprofit that distributes food to over 36,000 households per week in the San Francisco and Marin County areas.

Montana kicked off the partnership with a hands-on volunteer repack, working with the food bank to prepare meals for neighbors across California. Karissa Downer, Director of Guinness in the United States, says that the campaign is the latest in a string of philanthropic initiatives spearheaded by Guinness Gives Back, which has previously partnered with nonprofits including City Harvest, Houston Food Bank and United Way.

“Guinness Gives Back isn’t about just supporting financially. It’s about genuinely showing up, supporting and rolling up our sleeves to do the work alongside the communities that have long supported us,” Downer added. “Joe embodies everything Guinness and this platform stand for: authenticity, goodness, and a genuine commitment to the community. Bringing this effort to the Bay Area, where his legacy was built, made this moment especially powerful.”

Montana, known for his all-time-great career with the San Francisco 49ers, has previously been in alcohol-related news alongside Gold Bar Spirits, releasing whiskey and canned cocktails with the Bay Area brand.