Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer sits down for a pint with partners of Sequoia Brewing Co. at the grand opening in the Tower District on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. Photo by Ben Hensley

The “soul” of the Tower District was granted its rebirth on Friday with the grand reopening of Sequoia Brewing Co., celebrating the second chance for the much-loved Fresno spot.

The brewpub, which closed all three of its locations earlier this year — two in Fresno and one in Visalia — has now reopened both of its Fresno locations after celebrating the grand reopening of its North Fresno location in early October.

Along with the grand reopening in October came a handful of new brews — four in total — headlined by the bold “Don’t F%@k With Fresno,” a lager inspired by City Councilmember Nick Richardson’s fiery remark at a news conference.

“This has been more than a restaurant; it’s like a third place between work and home, where we all gather and spend time together as friends,” said Scott Miller, part-owner of Sequoia Brewing Co. “On behalf of my  partners I’d just like to say how grateful we all are to be able to play a part in this day and bring this great place back.”

Miller was joined by his partners Ian Wieland, Joseph Doerr, William Avakian and Will Oliver, as well as Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, City Councilmember Annalisa Perea, Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez and Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria. Soria formerly served as a city council member representing Tower District.

“If you look at Tower District, we don’t have big corporations — it’s all mom and pop shops. People from the community that are invested, that live in the neighborhood,” Soria said. “Bringing this back is like bringing that lost relative that was missing for a little bit and now the family is put together.”

The reopening picks up right where the community meeting space left off — with live music starting tonight at 7 p.m. Friday featuring local classic rock band Burn the Witch.

Around 80 community members, including representatives from the Fresno Chamber of Commerce were in attendance Friday.

“It was almost like a family member had left the neighborhood,” Dyer said. “To have it reopened is exciting; I know it’s exciting for the employees — 60 employees that will be working here.”

While the two Fresno Sequoia Brewing Company locations have reopened and retained approximately 80% of their staff, Miller said that the Downtown Visalia location is still a ways off, estimating that there would likely be nothing set in stone for over six months.

“That one’s going to be a while,” Miller said. “We’d love to go back to Visalia eventually and I think that this ownership group really has an eye on the future and an appetite to do more.”

He added that the community response has been incredible.

“It took so much good luck and so many great people to get this place back to open,” Miller said.