Louisville, Ky. -- The makers of Kentucky's Maker's Mark bourbon announced former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason would be on the label of the special Lane's End Stakes bottle.

The Lane's End Stakes is a $500,000 Kentucky Derby prep horse race at Turfway Park near Cincinnati that has been honored for the past six years with a commemorative bottle.

Esiason led the Cincinnati Bengals to the 1988 Super Bowl and created the
Boomer Esiason Foundation, which will be the beneficiary of the sales of the bottles graced by his image,

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal said Tuesday another Cincinnati sports hero, Reds catcher Johnny Bench, was on last year's Lane's End Stakes bottle.

Maker's Mark will produce 6,000 Boomer bottles to go on sale at retailers in the Cincinnati area on March 13 at a price of around $23.