Pack the Cooler Right: The Best Four Corners Brews for Your Memorial Day Weekend
The grill is already fired up. You can hear the sizzle from the driveway. Someone’s got the playlist locked in — a little cumbia, a little old school hip-hop, maybe something your tío would actually approve of. The yard is packed, the folding chairs are full, and the kids are already running through the sprinklers. Memorial Day weekend is here, and the only thing left to figure out is what goes in the cooler.
Because here’s the truth: the beer you choose for this weekend matters. It’s not just a drink — it’s the thing that clinks between friends who haven’t seen each other since New Year’s. It’s the cold one passed over the fence to the neighbor who showed up unannounced but is now your favorite guest. It’s what you’re holding when someone finally nails the perfect flip on the grill and everyone cheers. If your cooler ain’t stacked right, ¿para qué, ‘mano?
Memorial Day is bigger than a three-day weekend. It’s a moment to honor the men and women who gave everything so we could have weekends like this — full of laughter, good food, and the people we love. We hold that weight with gratitude. And then we gather, because gathering is itself an act of honoring them. We celebrate loudly, warmly, and with intention. That’s the spirit of the weekend.
And that spirit deserves a beer worthy of the occasion. Enter Four Corners Brewing Co. — the Dallas-born, Latino-owned, community-rooted craft brewery that’s been doing exactly this since 2012. Vida, Well Crafted. That’s not just a tagline; it’s a way of moving through the world. And this Memorial Day, we’re spotlighting the two brews that belong in every cooler worth its weight in ice: Local Buzz Honey Blonde Ale and El Chingón IPA.
These aren’t just some of the best beers for Memorial Day — they’re Texas-made, community-fueled, and built for exactly this kind of weekend. Let’s get into it.
Why Your Memorial Day Cooler Deserves Craft Beer
Let’s be real for a second. You could grab the same 30-rack you’ve been grabbing since college. It’s easy. It’s cheap. It gets the job done in the most basic, forgettable way possible. But here’s the thing about Memorial Day weekend — it’s not a forgettable kind of weekend. It’s the one where cousins drive in from three cities over. Where the abuela finally agrees to come outside. Where your best friend from high school shows up with that look on their face that says this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. Moments like these deserve more than forgettable.
Craft beer tells a story. And stories are what good gatherings are actually made of. When someone picks up a can of Local Buzz and asks, “Wait, is this actually made with Texas honey?” — that’s a conversation starter. That’s a moment of connection. That’s the difference between handing someone a drink and handing them an experience. Mass-market beer hands you a drink. Craft beer hands you a story.
Texas summers don’t play around either. By noon on Memorial Day weekend, it’s already hot enough to make you question your life choices. Your cooler needs to be built for a full day of celebrating — not just the first two hours. That means knowing your crowd. Not everyone at your cookout is the same kind of beer drinker. You’ve got the one who wants something light and crisp they can sip all afternoon without losing their footing. And you’ve got the hop head in the corner who’s been waiting all year for the weather to justify cracking something bold.
The solution is what we call the two-brew strategy: one easy-drinker for the crowd, and one big-flavor option for the serious drinkers. Every great cooler has both. And lucky for you, Four Corners has both dialed in perfectly.
Four Corners has been brewing beers rooted in Dallas community and Texas pride since 2012. These aren’t brews designed in a lab to appeal to the broadest possible market. They’re built with intention, with craft, and with a deep connection to where they come from. Check out the full year-round lineup and you’ll see what we mean — this is a brewery that builds every beer to be a reflection of something real. That’s the kind of summer craft beer that actually earns a spot in your cooler.
So yes, you could go generic. Or you could go Four Corners. You already know what the right answer is. Now let’s talk about what you’re actually putting in that cooler — starting with the brew that belongs in every cooler, for every person at the party.
Local Buzz Honey Blonde Ale: Keep Your Buzz Local
Local Buzz. Because the best buzz is always a local one.
There are certain beers that are universally loved — the ones that get passed around the yard without a single complaint, the ones that disappear from the cooler before you even notice. Local Buzz Honey Blonde Ale is exactly that beer. It’s Four Corners’ flagship brew, and it earned that title for good reason. This is the one that wins over your aunt who “doesn’t really drink beer,” the one that satisfies the seasoned craft drinker between bigger pours, and the one that makes a first-timer look down at their can with genuine surprise and say, “Okay, this is actually good.”
At 5.0% ABV and 20 IBU, Local Buzz is engineered for the long haul. It’s sessionable enough that you can nurse one from the moment you fire up the grill to the moment the sun finally dips below the fence line without ever feeling overwhelmed. That’s not an accident — that’s intention. On a Texas Memorial Day weekend, when the heat is stacking up and you’ve got hours of celebrating ahead of you, a beer you can actually drink all afternoon is worth its weight in gold.
But sessionable doesn’t mean boring. Not even close. Local Buzz is built on a smooth pale malt base with a touch of Munich malt to give it body — real, noticeable body, the kind that makes you feel like you’re drinking something that was actually crafted, not just carbonated. A hint of rye adds a subtle bready depth and just a whisper of spice to the finish, keeping things interesting without overwhelming the palate. And then there’s the star of the whole show: Texas-sourced honey.
That honey is not a gimmick. It’s not a flavoring or an additive thrown in for marketing purposes. It’s a genuine ingredient that gives Local Buzz its signature delicate sweetness and floral aroma — the kind of thing you notice on the first sip and can’t stop noticing after that. The fact that this honey comes from Texas? That’s not just a detail. That’s identity. That’s Four Corners putting their roots into every single can.
Think about what you’re serving at your Memorial Day cookout. Carne asada hitting the grill. A bowl of chips and guacamole that’s already half gone. Ears of corn roasting over the coals. Local Buzz was made for this spread. The honey sweetness plays off the char on the meat. The crispness cuts through the richness of the guac. The floral finish is the palate cleanser between bites that makes you want to come back for more. It’s a food pairing that just works, even if you’re not thinking about it as a pairing at all.
Local Buzz is available in a 6-pack, a 12-pack, and a 19.2 oz single serve. For a holiday weekend where the headcount keeps going up and you need flexibility, that mix pack is your best friend. Find the closest spot carrying it with the Brew Finder before the weekend sneaks up on you.
Crack one open and see what the buzz is all about — ¡Salud!
Local Buzz has the crowd covered. But there’s always someone at the party who’s looking for a little more edge, a little more bite, a little more… chingón. That’s where the next brew comes in.
El Chingón IPA: Crank Up Your Chingón Factor
We named it after you.
That’s the line. Four Corners said it first, and they meant it. El Chingón IPA isn’t a beer that’s trying to impress you with a clever name and then underdelivering. This IPA is as bold, complex, and unapologetic as the person it was named after — and if you’re the IPA drinker in the group, you already know who that is.
7.3% ABV. 72 IBU. This is not a shy beer. It doesn’t whisper. It doesn’t tiptoe around the hop room hoping not to cause a scene. It walks in with all seven C-Hops and a Munich malt backbone that could carry the weight of the whole party. El Chingón was designed to max out the chingón factor, and brother, it does exactly that.
Here’s where the craft story gets genuinely extraordinary. The hop bill on this IPA is not an accident — it’s a feat of engineering. The boil is loaded up with Columbus, Cascade, and Centennial, giving the beer its assertive bitterness and that signature citrus-pine punch. Then comes the large dose of Falconer’s Flight 7C blend at the end of the boil — a legendary combination of Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Cluster, Columbus, and Crystal — seven C-Hops firing on all cylinders. If you’re keeping count, that’s a chingoof hops, which is exactly what the name promises.
“Este india pale ale es un puro pari de cerveza.” — Four Corners Brewing Co.
The story doesn’t end there. A final whirlpool of Santiam hops bridges the robust malt bill and the hop intensity, creating a full, aromatic IPA that finishes with pleasant warmth rather than brutal bitterness. That’s the craftsmanship at work. It’s bold, yes — 72 IBU is genuinely assertive — but El Chingón is never brutal. The Munich malt backbone holds it all together, providing the kind of bready, caramel-forward body that keeps the hop fire from burning your palate down to nothing. It’s complex. It’s layered. It’s award-winning. And it absolutely belongs in your Memorial Day cooler.
Building the Ultimate Memorial Day Cooler The ¡FCBC! Way
Alright, let’s get practical. You’ve got the brews locked in. Now it’s time to talk strategy, because a great beer lineup deserves a great deployment plan. This is the ultimate craft beer cooler for Memorial Day weekend, built the Four Corners way.
The Two-Brew Strategy: One for Everyone, One for the Hop Heads
This is the core philosophy. Every great party cooler needs to cover every type of drinker in the group, and the two-brew strategy does exactly that:
Local Buzz Honey Blonde Ale — The universal favorite. The one that works for everyone. The IPA skeptic loves it. The first-time craft drinker loves it. The person who’s “not really a beer person” loves it. Stock more of this than anything else — lean into 12-packs and keep extras on standby, because it will go fast.
El Chingón IPA — The hop head’s trophy. Every group has at least one person who takes their IPA seriously, and this is the one you bring for them. A 6-pack or 12-pack does the job — it’s not meant to be the volume beer, it’s meant to be the statement beer. The one that gets respect and starts conversations.
Cooler Logistics: The Real Talk
- Pre-chill the cans overnight. Don’t rely on the ice to do all the work. Warm cans dumped into a full cooler just become cold water by mid-afternoon. Start cold, stay cold.
- Ice ratio matters. A good rule of thumb is a roughly 2:1 ratio of ice to cans — you want the cans fully submerged in ice, not just resting on top of it.
- Organize by brew. Keep Local Buzz on one side and El Chingón on the other. It sounds simple, but when 20 people are reaching into the cooler at once, organized is the only way to go.
- Use a second cooler for non-beer drinks. Every time someone opens the beer cooler for a water or a soda, cold air escapes. Protect your craft investment. Separate coolers is always the right call.
Food Pairings That Actually Make Sense
You don’t need to be a sommelier to do this right. Here’s the simple guide:
- Local Buzz → Carne asada, grilled corn, chips and guac, queso dip. The honey sweetness plays beautifully against smoke and char. It’s the all-day companion for everything on the grill.
- El Chingón IPA → Smoked brisket, spicy chicken wings, jalapeño burgers, anything with bold BBQ sauce. The hop bitterness cuts through fat and amplifies spice. This is a Texas BBQ beer through and through.
These are Texas-made beers for a Texas-sized celebration. The food, the weather, the company — it all lines up. And the ingredient no recipe can ever replicate is community. The people you share this weekend with are the reason the beer tastes as good as it does.
Pack your cooler, snap the pic, tag us. #FCBrewing @FCBrewing — show the world what a proper Memorial Day cooler looks like.
Find Your Four Corners: Where to Grab These Brews in Texas
The cooler is planned. The strategy is set. The only thing standing between you and the best Memorial Day weekend you’ve had in years is knowing exactly where to go get these beers. And Four Corners makes that part easy.
Four Corners Brewing Co. is a Texas brand — not a novelty import, not a brewery you have to hunt down at one specialty shop if you’re lucky. These beers are available at bars, restaurants, and stores across Texas, which means no matter where you’re setting up your Memorial Day cookout, there’s a solid chance Four Corners is within reach. This is a craft brewery that’s woven into the fabric of Texas drinking culture, and that’s exactly how it should be.
The fastest way to find any Four Corners brew near you is the Brew Finder — an easy tool that locates your favorite Four Corners beers at nearby bars, restaurants, and stores across Texas. Plug in your location and it does the rest. No guessing, no driving around, no showing up to a store that ran out three days ago. Use it. It exists for exactly this moment.
A quick note on availability — because planning matters when you’re building the perfect cooler:
- Local Buzz Honey Blonde Ale — Year-round, widely available across Texas. This one’s easy to find. No stress.
- El Chingón IPA — Year-round as well, and just as widely distributed. Another easy grab.
Whatever your crowd size, Four Corners has a format that fits. Check out the full year-round brews lineup if you want to explore beyond the two we’ve highlighted — because honestly, there’s more where this came from.
If you’re in Dallas for the holiday weekend — or even if you’re not but you can make the drive — The Taproom at 1311 S. Ervay St., Dallas, TX is the full Four Corners experience. And this Memorial Day, the taproom is doing something it almost never does: opening on a Monday, May 25th — doors open at 3 PM. Cold pints on draft. Pacheco Taco N Burger on site taking orders from 4 PM. Plant Bingo with The Social Greenhouse from 5–8 PM. Award-winning brews. Murals you’ll genuinely want to photograph. A neighborhood vibe that feels like exactly the kind of place a community-rooted brewery should call home. This is where Vida, Well Crafted is most alive — walk in, find a seat, and let the weekend begin properly.
Don’t sleep on it. Memorial Day weekend fills up fast and stores get picked over. Get the Brew Finder open, figure out your nearest spot, and make the run before the weekend gets ahead of you.
This Memorial Day, Keep It Local, Keep It Bold, Keep It Bien Chingón
Here’s the thing about Memorial Day weekend that never changes, no matter how many years go by: it’s about people. It’s about honoring the ones who gave everything, and celebrating the ones who are still here to give each other something. The food, the music, the yard — they’re all just the setting. What actually makes the weekend is who you’re sharing it with and what you’re sharing.
The least we can do is make the gathering count. Good food. Good company. And good beer — the kind that was made with intention, with craft, and with a genuine love for the community it comes from.
So this is your final checklist before the weekend kicks off:
Local Buzz Honey Blonde
For the ease, for the crowd, for the long afternoon under the Texas sun. Crisp, honey-kissed, universally loved. The beer that makes everyone happy, every time.
El Chingón IPa
El Chingón IPA: For the edge, for the hop heads, for the bold flavors that match the boldness of the occasion. Seven C-Hops, zero apologies.
That’s a cooler built with Texas pride, Dallas roots, and the Vida, Well Crafted ethos that Four Corners has been living since 2012. Life is better when it’s crafted with intention. This weekend, make it count.
This Memorial Day, keep it local, keep it bold, keep it bien chingón. ¡Salud!
And when you’ve got that perfect cooler packed and the good times going — snap the pic. Tag us. Share it. Let the whole feed know what a properly stacked Four Corners Memorial Day looks like.
#FCBrewing @FCBrewing on Instagram and Facebook. We’ll be looking for you.
Ready to Pack the Cooler?
🍺 Use the Brew Finder to locate Local Buzz and El Chingón IPA at a store, bar, or restaurant near you across Texas. Don’t wait — the weekend’s almost here.
🏠 In Dallas? Come through to The Taproom at 1311 S. Ervay St. — open Memorial Day, Monday May 25th starting at 3 PM. Experience both on draft, grab tacos from Pacheco Taco N Burger (orders from 4 PM), and close out the weekend right with Plant Bingo from 5–8 PM. Vida, Well Crafted.
📸 Snap your cooler, tag us. Show us your Memorial Day stack. #FCBrewing @FCBrewing on Instagram & Facebook.