Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select begins slow rollout

Sinatra, and Jack, in concert.

Frank Sinatra's long love affair with blues, broads and booze, as he often phrased it, was well chronicled during the iconic singer-actor's lifetime. Now, 14 years after his death, his favorite brand of whiskey is honoring him.

Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select was unveiled this week, the first step in a drawn-out marketing plan.

Sinatra Select, bottled at 90 proof (45% abv), is matured longer than the standard Jack Daniel’s, in "Sinatra barrels" that have carved interior grooves to expose the whiskey to more wood. That results in a faster maturing spirit.

The new expression will be launched -- with an initial suggested retail price of $150 -- at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas Airport in December. It then will be rolled out to about 200 other airport locations around the world in January.

The marketing plan calls for selling Sinatra Select at the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, TN, beginning in 2013, and eventually being made available in other domestic markets.

Why the delays?

“We hope people will both collect it and consume it,” said Jim Perry, managing director of Brown-Forman Travel Retail. "The year 2015 will be Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday. Over the next couple of years, we’ll be building up to that moment."

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