Joe Montana makes a splash with new canned cocktail

Legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana is making a big splash at Levi’s Stadium this season — and on beverage store shelves.

The NFL Hall of Famer is pitching the Double Gold, a ready-to-drink cocktail he collaborated on with the Bay Area’s Gold Bar Whiskey.

The cocktail — which comes in 12-ounce cans — is a variation on a “mule” cocktail with Gold Bar whiskey, ginger, lime juice and a splash of orange juice — that was Montana’s contribution to the recipe. It has an 8% ABV, which gives it a little kick but won’t leave you feeling like you were run over by a defensive tackle.

“I’ve never been a cocktail person until I tried this, and it’s just a different twist on a mule,” Montana said in an interview. “It’s a lot more citrusy and so much more refreshing.”

There’s only one thing about the Double Gold cocktail that Montana doesn’t find refreshing. “I think it looks great, but it has my picture on it, so it ruins it for me,” he joked.

If you’re a Levi’s Stadium regular and this sounds familiar, that’s because the Double Gold is a canned version of the Golden Joe, which is the official cocktail of the 49ers and Levi’s Stadium. If you’re not hanging out at Levi’s, you can find out where to get it at www.goldbarwhiskey.comwww.goldbarwhiskey.com. Each can has a QR code that can be scanned and redeemed for a throwback T-shirt at Gold Bar’s Treasure Island location.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Niners’ 1985 Super Bowl victory, Gold Bar Whiskey is also releasing a Retro Edition 85-proof straight bourbon finished in wine casks. Each bottle comes with an innovative “Necker Koozie” for cans that looks just like the cold satin jackets Montana and other 49ers — and their fans — wore in the ’80s.

“You look at 40 years and you’re going, ‘Oh my gosh, how can that be?’, ” Montana said. “I think it’s great that people still look back at that era. We had a pretty good run there in the ’80s and probably if we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot, we would have won another Super Bowl or two.”