As football's biggest weekend approaches, Guinness, a brand of Diageo plc, London, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana partnered with the SF-Marin Food Bank for a hands-on volunteer repack event, helping prepare hundreds of meals for neighbors across the Bay Area.

The day of service highlighted the San Francisco chapter of the Guinness Gives Back program, the brand’s national community impact platform, one built on showing up, pitching in, and supporting local partners where it matters most, the company says.

“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,” said Karissa Downer, director of Guinness in the United States, in a statement. “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.”

The volunteer event also coincides with the release of Guinness Legends Lager, a highly limited-edition Pale Wheat Lager developed by the Guinness brewers in close collaboration with Montana. 

Drawing on a favorite memory from his playing career, a team trip to play in Germany in the early 1990s, Montana worked alongside the brewing team to bring that moment back to life through beer, the company notes. It was in Germany that he first discovered wheat beers, sharing pints with teammates and realizing that some of life’s most memorable moments happen when great people come together over a great pint, it says. That feeling of connection, camaraderie and simplicity became the creative spark for Legends Lager.

“I've worked with Guinness for a few years now, and we’ve done some great things together,” Montana. “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. Working with the brewers to bring that moment back to life was incredibly meaningful. Legends Lager is our way of sharing that feeling, and being able to pair it with giving back to the Bay Area community makes it even more special.”

Together, Montana and the Guinness brewers translated that memory into a beer designed to be light, balanced and easy-drinking at 4.3% ABV, the company says. 

Guinness Legends Lager is available now in limited quantities in the San Francisco area (for a suggested retail price of $19.99), giving local fans a way to celebrate game day while supporting a good cause. The beer also is available at Guinness Open Gate Brewery locations in Chicago and Baltimore, while supplies last.

For every four-pack of Legends Lager made, Guinness will donate $5 to the SF-Marin Food Bank, up to $35,000, through the Guinness Gives Back initiative to support critical food security efforts across Northern California, it notes.