By Katie Hayes
The Chronicle
Three years ago, the land where Jones Creek Brewing sits was an empty field. Now, it holds Tim and Mirinda Moriarty’s brewery and taphouse, where they serve eight of their own brews at a time, as well as a guest cider.
Although Jones Creek Brewing hasn’t celebrated its grand opening yet, it technically opened up shop in November 2017. Since then, the Moriartys have produced 60 different beers and now distribute to other local bars — namely, Flood Valley Brewing and Mackinaw’s Restaurant in Chehalis, Tiki Tap House in Centralia and the Pe Ell Pub.
“It’s kind of like a chef’s take on food, you know,” said Tim Moriarty of the beers he brews. “We have such a small system that we can get away with trying out and experimenting with different things. … If we are brewing on a system that is 20 times this size, that’s literally thousands of dollars worth of ingredients. For our system, it is maybe $100 worth of ingredients on average. So it’s not that big of a deal to have a beer that sits around for a little bit longer than the rest. It kind of gives us time to fill up our taps, too.”
Tim Moriarty began brewing in 2011, after his parents bought him a home brewing kit. That same year, his parents bought property, just East of Pe Ell. Tim Moriarty explained they were searching for a hobby farm somewhere in either Washington or Oregon. A few years later, in 2014, his parents invited him and his wife, Mirinda Moriarty, to come build their own brewery and taphouse on the property.
In addition to brewing their own beers, the Moriartys have a “practice plot” where they experiment with growing various types of hops to use in future brews.
“(We are) just kind of playing it by ear and trying different things out to see what will grow well around here,” Tim Moriarty said. “They (the hops) can be very finicky. Some varieties do better than others in this climate.”
Nearly all hops produced in the U.S. are grown in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. According to the Washington Beer Commission, Yakima Valley accounts for more than 77 percent of U.S. hop production and is the ideal environment for growing hops.
Tim Moriarty said he has found the “old-world varieties” grow better in Western Washington, such as Cascade, Centennial and Hallertauer.
“Those hops tend to be a little more well-acclimated,” Tim Moriarty said. “A lot of the newer varieties for the IPAs — like the really fancy hops that everybody wants — they have been crossbred, and basically they have been crossbred in Eastern Washington. So they have only been grown in that climate — which is a pretty ideal climate for growing them — and they haven’t really gotten a lot of testing outside of that area.”
Tim Moriarty said he also has plans to experiment with growing Klaber hops. Herman Klaber was the “King of hops” in the early 20th century. According to previous Chronicle reporting, Lewis County was at that time the “Hops Capital of the World.” Klaber died when he returned to the U.S. on the Titanic, but wild hops can still be found growing in Lewis County.
“There are lots of wild hops that still grow right by 76 down there, next to Rails-to-Trails,” Tim Moriarty said. “There is a big anchor cable that goes up that hops grow up, and right next to the Boistfort school there is another one. It’s pretty close to the plaque that talks about Herman Klaber.”
For now, however, Tim Moriarty buys his hops from Yakima and experiments with recipes. This week, Jones Creek Brewing will add a Mexican Hot Chocolate Porter. Tim Moriarty said it is a porter base, chocolatey on its own, then he added cinnamon, vanilla beans and chilis.
“It’s delicious,” Mirinda Moriarty added.
Tim and Mirinda Moriarty said anything IPA has sold well at Jones Creek Brewing.
“You brew an IPA and that’s going to sell very, very fast,” Tim Moriarty said. “That is kind of one of the core staples of craft brewing, is that style of beer. People just like the bold hoppiness of it and it’s a fun style of beer, because you can come up with so many different varieties with the hops.”
Tim Moriarty said he has only brewed a couple IPAs with the same recipe since Jones Creek Brewing had its soft opening.
“People aren’t like stuck on just that one style,” Tim Moriarty said. “As long as it’s an IPA, they’re happy. … I’ll try a different hop variety, or I’ll do a beer where it’s just a single hop variety. So I only use one hop throughout the entire process and that’s kind of fun to let the customers experience what us as brewers kind of get to experience — where we get to experience the individual varieties and their characteristics.”
A lot of breweries, Tim Moriarty explained, use multiple varieties of hops in a single IPA.
“(That) is fun because you get a lot of layering of flavor and stuff, but when you have the one hop, you really let it shine and do its thing and let the customers kind of experience and understand what that one hop does for flavor and aroma,” Tim Moriarty said.
Tim and Mirinda Moriarty plan to host a grand opening for Jones Creek Brewing this summer.
