After months of tireless nomination rounds across the country, the Jack Daniels Rock Awards finally came to a close at Bandra’s Mehboob Studios on 21^st February. As expected, some celebs thankfully from the music industry and well Bollywood (they had to be there) showed up to support the 9^th Editon of the Jack Daniels Rock Awards. It was a great night out, thanks in part to the free flowing Jack.

In the 9th edition of JD Annual Rock Awards 2013, Rolling Stone India selected emerging bands from Bengaluru, Delhi and Pune and invited them to perform at Hard Rock Café in each city. On the basis of these performances, one band won a nomination in the Best Emerging Band of the year category. Rolling Stone India also nominated other bands from the rest of India into this category.

Here is the complete list of winners of the ninth Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards:

Best Band – Sky Rabbit

Best Album – Sky Rabbit – Where EP

Best Song – Nischay Parekh – “Ocean”

Best Male Vocalist – Sanjeev Thomas

Best Female Vocalist – Vasundhara Vidalur of Adil & Vasundhara

Best Guitarist – Baiju Dharmajan for Sanjeev Thomas

Best Bassist – Saurabh Suman of Adil & Vasundhara

Best Drummer – Hamza Kazi of Coshish

Best Keyboardist – Jason Zachariah of Jason Zac Band

Best Metal Band – Reptilian Death and Devoid

Best Emerging Artist – The F16s

Producer Of The Year – Keshav Dhar

Album Art of the Year – Suraj Mani (The Tattva Trip)

The Jack Daniel’s Annual Rock Awards are the country’s first and most prestigious music awards to honor achievements in the recording arts and support the Indian music community. Every year, a panel of jury members including artists, music label veterans and respected music journalists along with music enthusiasts from across the country vote for bands, producers and albums for their overall excellence in the recording industry.

In the past, the event has awarded the best that the Indian music scene has to offer with artists like Papon, The Raghu Dixit Project, Indus Creed, Scribe, Swarathma, Skyharbor, Pentagram and many of the Indian independent music scene’s most popular artists scoring awards at past editions.

The awards reflect how the alternative and rock music scene in the country has exponentially grown by introducing new categories such as best producer, best music venue and emerging band. The ever-increasing following for Indian metal made a compelling reason for a new category in 2012 to recognize the best metal bands in the country.

Besides the awards, Jack Daniels also unveiled their latest edition courtesy master distiller Jeff Arnet. The Sinatra Select is a concoction of full-bodied whiskies exposed to extra layers of toasted wood in special barrels to achieve a rich amber colour and denser character.

The spirit from these “Sinatra barrels” was then combined with the classic Old No 7 Tennessee Whisky to create a bold blend that was full of oak and spicy notes, smoothened by a vanilla finish at the end.

The Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select has been bottled at 90 proof. At the event JD paid a tribute to the music legend, and fans and whisky connoisseurs, got a chance to taste the special edition.

The imagery of Frank Sinatra raising a toast to his audience with a glass of classic JD in his hand has, years later, prompted an ode to the American singer by Jack Daniel’s Tennessee.