Is Frank Sinatra Actually Buried With A Bottle Of Jack Daniel's?

In his heyday, Frank Sinatra had a gossip-worthy appetite. He was as famous for hits like "Fly Me to the Moon" as he was for his love of Italian-American food, steakhouses, and whiskey on the rocks. Specifically, Jack Daniel's. When the world-renowned entertainer passed away in 1998, it seemed only fitting that one of his favorite libations accompany him to the casket. According to multiple biographies, news reports, and family accounts, Sinatra really was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. That wasn't the only personal item that accompanied him to the afterlife. Reports say his family also placed Sinatra's favorite candy, cherry Life Savers, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, and 10 dimes in his pocket — in case he needed to make a call from a pay phone in the great beyond. 

Of all those necessities, the bottle of Jack was probably the most quintessentially Sinatra. The New Jersey-born singer's affection for Tennessee whiskey was well-known. Friends, fellow performers, and biographers recall that a bottle of Jack Daniel's was always listed on his rider and stocked in his dressing room before shows. Some of the foods Sinatra liked to nosh on before shows included Campbell's soup, egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches, and a cheese and cracker tray, but Jack Daniel's, which he called the "nectar of the gods," was non-negotiable. Decades later, the distillery embraced this connection by releasing a premium expression called Sinatra Select. 

If you want to drink Jack like Ol' Blue Eyes, all you need is a two-finger pour, three ice cubes, and a splash of water in a rocks glass. Sinatra wasn't known to drink alone. When it was cocktail hour, he'd run a Jack Daniel's flag over his Palm Springs home to alert the neighbors. While Tennessee whiskey was certainly the singer's favorite tipple, many of Sinatra's favorite foods were inspired by his Italian-American upbringing. Stuffed artichokes, veal Milanese, clams Posillipo, and spaghetti with tomato sauce regularly appeared on his dinner table. There was no trend-chasing here — Sinatra gravitated toward comforting, generously portioned dishes, just like his mother used to make. He even briefly co-owned an Italian restaurant, Puccini's, in Beverly Hills.

Many of his favorite meals were at restaurants that have since become culinary landmarks. In the Big Apple, he was a devoted regular at Patsy's Italian Restaurant, which served up red-sauce classics in Midtown Manhattan's Theatre District. Out west, he lorded over Booth 22 at the Golden Steer, his favorite steakhouse in Las Vegas. His favorite dish there was Steak Pizzaiola, a New York strip steak smothered in a garlicky tomato sauce. The restaurant is still open today. Though none of Sinatra's favorite foods made it into his casket for obvious reasons, the items his family included were highly personal and a true reflection of the crooner's tastes.