Jack Daniel's toasts Sinatra with new whiskey

The new ultra-premium spirit was aged in special "Sinatra barrels" at the brand's distillery in Tennessee, the company announced Tuesday. The result is a darker amber color than classic Jack Daniel's.

"Dad would be very flattered by the association," Frank Sinatra Jr. said.

The rollout is aimed at high rollers. Packaged in a specially designed 1-liter bottle, the special-edition whiskey is expected to sell for at least $150 per bottle. The package includes a gift box and book retelling Sinatra's devotion to the whiskey he called the "Nectar of the Gods."

Sales are expected to reach into the tens of thousands of cases in the first 18 months, Perry said in a phone interview.

For decades, Sinatra would offer a toast to his audiences with a glass of Jack Daniel's in his hand.

"This fine Tennessee Whiskey, or Old No. 7 as he referred to it, was a favorite part of my father's life and he loved both sharing it with his friends and introducing it to new acquaintances," Frank Sinatra Jr. said in a release.

With the centennial of the singer-actor's birthday approaching in 2015, Brown-Forman decided it was fitting to pay tribute to perhaps the most famous fan of Jack Daniel's. Sinatra died in 1998 at age 82.

"He is this timeless individual," Perry said. "He takes you back to a time when life was a little bit more elegant."