Live music, food trucks, and giant Jenga; what do these three have in common? All and more activities are featured at Tower Brewing Company.

Tower is located at 1210 66th St., in the alley next to the Academy 65 apartment building. Tower has an enclosed open area with tables right in front of the entrance, so that patrons can enjoy a drink outdoors.  

Inside, Tower is broken into two main areas for customers: the first, where most customers congregate, is both family and dog friendly. Then, there’s the taproom.  

The taproom features a large vivid mural containing the history of Sacramento, created by Sacramento artist Shaun Burner. 

Tower Brewing Co. was formerly known as Sactown Union Brewery which opened Feb. 27 2016, but rebranded itself as Tower Brewing Co. in March, 2019. Since then, it’s been a go to brewery for Sacramento locals.

Tower provides a wide array of family friendly activities, including Wednesday night trivia, live music on Friday and Saturday, and morning yoga classes on Sundays.

One of the beertenders and Sacramento State psychology major Kristen Madigen said that she loves the community at Tower. She said that most of the customers are locals with a taste for craft beer.

Two regulars who Madigen affectionately refers to as the “mom and pop” of the brewery, JoJo and Tommy Francesconi, have been part of the community for over three years. Tower employees even named a beer after them.

“Usually when we have beers and we’re ready to go, JoJo will slam the counter and yell ‘One More, Tommy!’ which kind of became our motto,” Tommy Francesconi said. “They named the beer after me on my birthday last year, ‘One More Tommy!’”

Aside from chips and salsa made by The Crazy Gringo Taco Wagon Salsa Company, located in Cameron Park, Tower provides no food. Instead, scheduled food trucks come throughout the week. Tower also allows customers to bring in their own food.

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Calvin Crawford, Tower’s Taproom manager said that the location for Tower was chosen due to its proximity to both local businesses and residential units. In spite of how close Tower is to Sac State, he said that students are not a common sight in the venue.

“More of the faculty and some of the coaches come in,” Crawford said. “We do have a study hall on Tuesdays with 20% off for students and staff with an ID.” 

To try and maximize student outreach, the media marketing coordinator for Tower, Sac State student Kasey Kaleel puts up flyers around campus with the help of Madigen. If more students start to drop in during busier days like Fridays or Saturdays, more discount days could appear in their schedule, Kaleel said.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for students to come in and enjoy a pint or two,” Crawford said.