• by Karlene Lukovitz , November 6, 2015

Jack Daniel's rolled out its retail distribution of a very pricey ($165 per liter), 90-proof Sinatra Select version in time to market it throughout 2015, Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday year.

Sinatra Select came out of the iconic singer's well-documented love of the whiskey.

The $2.3-million campaign, from Arnold Worldwide, included a TV spot/video featuring footage of Sinatra, among other elements.

Now, as both the holiday gift-giving season and the actual centennial date of Sinatra's birth -- Dec. 12 -- approach, the Brown-Forman brand has released an even more expensive JD/Sinatra offering: Jack Daniel's Sinatra Century whiskey. A one-liter bottle of this limited-edition (100 barrels), 100-proof version, packaged in a gift box along with a CD of previously unreleased tracks of Sinatra performing live at the Sands Casino in 1966, goes for a whopping $499.99. (A bottle of JD Single Barrel goes for about $45.)

To wind up the campaign and presumably help drive both Century and Select holiday purchases, JD is now running a six-week-long "Toastmakers" social media push.

The focal point is an Instagram-based contest offering a prize of a Rat-Pack-like weekend In Los Angeles and Las Vegas for the winner and four friends. 

To participate, consumers take a toast-themed photo or short video of themselves and post it to JD's Instagram account (@JackDaniels_US) using #ToastSinatraContest, between Nov. 2 and Dec. 12. 

The campaign site (thetoastmakers.com) provides 12 different Sinatra toast ideas to "inspire" the entries. Examples include The Hat Trick ("Toast Sinatra with your best hat selfie") and The Bottled Up (which suggests clicking the link into JD's bio before snapping and posting a photo of a bottle of JD). The winner will be chosen by judges based on creativity, originality, relevance and technical quality.

A 30-second video featuring Sinatra footage is being used to promote the contest. 

Celebrities including musicians Brendon Urie, Butch Walker and Scott Bradlee were recruited to participate and inspire others to do the same. 

“Frank drew in a crowd by beginning his performances with a toast of Jack, and this partnership between his family and ours honors that long-standing, personal affinity," says Ana Kornegay, Jack Daniel's Craft & Luxury brand director.