Pe Ell’s Jones Creek Brewing Set to Reopen Outdoor Seating

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PE ELL — Jones Creek Brewing is slated to open for on-site service on Friday, May 29, following Lewis County’s move to phase two of Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan for counties to reopen businesses.

Jones Creek has been a solely to-go and delivery-based business the past seven weeks since the novel coronavirus restrictions went into place for places of entertainment in Washington state.

Beginning on Friday, the brewery will open its outdoor seating area on its patio and lawn for groups of five or less people. 

One customer at a time will be allowed inside the tasting room for orders, payments or bathroom use. They are encouraging the use of masks while inside the brewery/tasting room. The brewery is also asking customers to leave their children at home during this time. There will also be no seating at the bar in order to adhere to social distancing measures. Pickup and delivery will remain available for those who prefer contactless service.

Jones Creek Brewing first came to fruition in 2014 when owners Tim and Mirinda Moriarty received a home brewing kit for Christmas from Tim’s parents. 

The couple were living in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time and soon began brewing batches for their friends.

“It kind of spiraled out of control real fast,” Tim said. 

Tim’s parents had a project farm near Pe Ell and they wanted it put to good use, so they offered to fund the brewery if Tim, who had no construction experience at the time, came up and built it. 

“Being ambitious like I am, I said, ‘Oh, well, let’s give it a go!” Tim said.

Jones Creek Brewing officially opened in 2017. Tim’s dad was in the military while he was growing up, so he has lived all over the world, but it was a big cultural shift going from the Bay Area in Northern California, a global center for technology with 6.7 million people, to Pe Ell, a remote settlement of 700 residents in west Lewis County.

“It’s been a fun adventure, to say the least,” Tim said. 

The brewery has been staying afloat the past seven weeks with customers stopping by to fill up their growler for $15-$30, depending on the beer and size. The brewery hasn’t had set hours because the Moriartys live on the property and locals usually just call or message if they want to stop by and pick up some alcohol. 

“A lot of people just message us on Facebook and say, ‘Hey, are you guys open? Can I come get a growler?” Tim said. 

Others drive by, see the sign with the phone number on it and give the Moriartys a call. But now, with the on-site reopening scheduled for Friday, the brewery will be open three days a week:  4 to 9 p.m., Friday; noon to 9 p.m., Saturday; noon to 7 p.m., Sunday.

They did see a substantial decrease in sales when the novel coronavirus hit the nation, followed by Washington’s restrictions on places of entertainment. Jones Creek Brewing’s business model is based around a tasting room and draft-only alcohol, no cans or bottles, so it was a difficult transition.

“Distributing to local restaurants and bars pretty much came to a screeching halt,” Tim said. 

Not being able to serve pints and have people in their tasting room has been a huge hit for the company. Also, the lack of traffic flow around this time of people heading west on Route 6 to the coastal beaches has also been a factor with less people traveling.



Jones Creek was also scheduled to be an official stop on the Ride the Willapa, an annual event where bicyclists ride the Rails to Trails from Chehalis to Pe Ell. Jones Creek was slated to be one of the camping stops along the way and the moriarty’s were planning to build a stage before the event this year was canceled.

Still, the Moriartys are keeping their hopes up. Their brewery has nine taps dedicated to beer and cider, and they brew a little bit of everything. They almost always have an Irish red ale, a light beer, a hoppy beer, a multi beer and a sour beer. 

“We always try to keep a variety on hand,” Tim said. “But we always like to brew new beers, new styles, to keep it fresh.”

Their most popular beer on tap, a core staple, is the s'mores beer, a dark, rich, robust beer that has the flavor complexity of s’mores.

“If I don’t have it on tap, people walk in and go, ‘Do you have s’mores?’ and I go, ‘It’s not quite ready yet,’ and they turn around and walk away,” Tim said. “It’s like, ‘We have eight other beers on tap you can choose from.”

Do occasionally have a rotating guest tap where they add a keg of beer or cider from a local brewery or cidery to give their customers extra options, from time to time. 

The Moriartys are looking forward to old and new customers coming to try out their line of beers on Friday with the reopening.

The Moriartys addressed their customers on Jones Creek Brewing’s Facebook page Saturday announcing the reopening: “Thank you for your continued support during this time and we can’t wait to serve you again! We missed you! Stay safe and stay healthy. Cheers!”

More Information on Jones Creek Brewing

Owners: Tim and Mirinda Moriarty

Hours: 4 to 9 p.m., Friday; noon to 9 p.m., Saturday; noon to 7 p.m., Sunday.

Location: 173 Beam Rd., Chehalis

Phone: 360-245-3429

Website: www.jonescreekbrewing.com

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.