With Mother’s Day upon us, we have been given the perfect opportunity to shout out one of our leading ladies. While many inspiring women make up the Jackalope team today, we want to take it back a few years to talk about the woman that inspired Jackalope’s first brew ever. To anyone who has ever savored our citrusy flagship pale ale, allow us to formally introduce the absolute legend that is Thunder Ann.
The folklore tale of Thunder Ann goes as follows:
Over 200 years ago, the sole daughter following nine sons, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, was born. By the time she was five, she was the fastest runner in Tennessee, running faster than a wildcat, and she could defeat all of her brothers in arm wrestling. At age seven, she was recognized as the toughest member of the Tennessee Tug-O-War Team. While her brothers initially disliked the idea of introducing a girl into the familial mix, Thunder Ann grew on them quickly. As tough as she was, it was said that she was, “so sweet that the hornets liked to let her use their nests for her Sunday-go-to-church hats,” and she once caused a gruff papa bear to fall over in a faint just by flashing him a smile. But she didn’t dare let anyone call her sweetie.
As she got older, she longed to see more of the world, so she said farewell to her family and headed off for the frontier. While galavanting through the heat of summer, she came across a peculiar site. A man wearing a coonskin cap had seemingly gotten his head stuck in the crook of a hickory tree. Being the woman that she is, Thunder Ann swiftly shifted into survival mode. Spotting a nest of rattlesnakes nearby, she gathered up all six snakes, knotted them together to make a lasso, and with a quick tug, the man’s head was freed. The man turned out to be the one and only king of the wild frontier, Davy Crockett, and he was impressed.
Thunder Ann and Davy Crockett soon married and had ten children of their own. Legend has it that shortly after their first son, Hardstone, was born, Davy Crockett set off on a trek in Washington. That night, as Thunder Ann and Hardstone were bedding down, a gang of ferocious alligators surrounded their house. Fearing nothing, Thunder Ann wrestled down every gator and flung them all away from the house. And from that day on, the world knew Thunder Ann as the bravest, strongest woman far and wide.
Of course, all of our beers follow the theme of legendary or mythological creatures, and Thunder Ann is no different. Davy Crockett married a number of women throughout his lifetime, but his mythological wife lives on though tall tales and through our beer. Celebrate all of the powerful moms out there this Mother’s Day with a 6-pack of Thunder Ann, and be sure to catch the poem on the back of the can!