diff --git a/docs/setup/settings.asciidoc b/docs/setup/settings.asciidoc
index 3f8f46ef2604cc..b111fb5feae8cf 100644
--- a/docs/setup/settings.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/setup/settings.asciidoc
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ error messages.
 
 [[logging-verbose]]`logging.verbose:`:: *Default: false* Set the value of this setting to `true` to log all events, including system usage information and all requests. Supported on Elastic Cloud Enterprise.
 
-`logging.useUTC`:: *Default: true* Set the value of this setting to `false` to log events using the timezone of the server, rather than UTC.
+`logging.timezone`:: *Default: UTC* Set to the canonical timezone id (e.g. `US/Pacific`) to log events using that timezone.  A list of timezones can be referenced at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones.
 
 `map.includeElasticMapsService:`:: *Default: true* Turns on or off whether layers from the Elastic Maps Service should be included in the vector and tile layer option list.
 By turning this off, only the layers that are configured here will be included.
diff --git a/src/server/config/schema.js b/src/server/config/schema.js
index 3cb7da188f24f5..f081b7a7378400 100644
--- a/src/server/config/schema.js
+++ b/src/server/config/schema.js
@@ -140,10 +140,8 @@ export default () => Joi.object({
         then: Joi.default(!process.stdout.isTTY),
         otherwise: Joi.default(true)
       }),
-
-    useUTC: Joi.boolean().default(true),
-  })
-    .default(),
+    timezone: Joi.string().allow(false).default('UTC')
+  }).default(),
 
   ops: Joi.object({
     interval: Joi.number().default(5000),
diff --git a/src/server/config/transform_deprecations.js b/src/server/config/transform_deprecations.js
index 44571cee6c58db..d15e171f031ff0 100644
--- a/src/server/config/transform_deprecations.js
+++ b/src/server/config/transform_deprecations.js
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
-import _, { partial } from 'lodash';
+import _, { partial, set } from 'lodash';
 import { createTransform, Deprecations } from '../../deprecation';
+import { unset } from '../../utils';
 
 const { rename, unused } = Deprecations;
 
@@ -55,6 +56,15 @@ const rewriteBasePath = (settings, log) => {
   }
 };
 
+const loggingTimezone = (settings, log) => {
+  if (_.has(settings, 'logging.useUTC')) {
+    const timezone = settings.logging.useUTC ? 'UTC' : false;
+    set('logging.timezone', timezone);
+    unset(settings, 'logging.UTC');
+    log(`Config key "logging.useUTC" is deprecated. It has been replaced with "logging.timezone"`);
+  }
+};
+
 const deprecations = [
   //server
   rename('server.ssl.cert', 'server.ssl.certificate'),
@@ -68,6 +78,7 @@ const deprecations = [
   serverSslEnabled,
   savedObjectsIndexCheckTimeout,
   rewriteBasePath,
+  loggingTimezone,
 ];
 
 export const transformDeprecations = createTransform(deprecations);
diff --git a/src/server/logging/configuration.js b/src/server/logging/configuration.js
index beec30b54bccbf..59019ad8731290 100644
--- a/src/server/logging/configuration.js
+++ b/src/server/logging/configuration.js
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export default function loggingConfiguration(config) {
         config: {
           json: config.get('logging.json'),
           dest: config.get('logging.dest'),
-          useUTC: config.get('logging.useUTC'),
+          timezone: config.get('logging.timezone'),
 
           // I'm adding the default here because if you add another filter
           // using the commandline it will remove authorization. I want users
diff --git a/src/server/logging/log_format.js b/src/server/logging/log_format.js
index 43ffca7fd39c62..994b5af8b89f45 100644
--- a/src/server/logging/log_format.js
+++ b/src/server/logging/log_format.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  */
 
 import Stream from 'stream';
-import moment from 'moment';
+import moment from 'moment-timezone';
 import { get, _ } from 'lodash';
 import numeral from '@elastic/numeral';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ export default class TransformObjStream extends Stream.Transform {
   }
 
   extractAndFormatTimestamp(data, format) {
-    const { useUTC } = this.config;
+    const { timezone } = this.config;
     const date = moment(data['@timestamp']);
-    if (useUTC) {
-      date.utc();
+    if (timezone) {
+      date.tz(timezone);
     }
     return date.format(format);
   }
diff --git a/src/server/logging/log_format_json.test.js b/src/server/logging/log_format_json.test.js
index b9878e63f08983..1632b2b401c8ae 100644
--- a/src/server/logging/log_format_json.test.js
+++ b/src/server/logging/log_format_json.test.js
@@ -196,10 +196,10 @@ describe('KbnLoggerJsonFormat', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('useUTC', () => {
-    it('logs in UTC when useUTC is true', async () => {
+  describe('timezone', () => {
+    it('logs in UTC', async () => {
       const format = new KbnLoggerJsonFormat({
-        useUTC: true
+        timezone: 'UTC'
       });
 
       const result = await createPromiseFromStreams([
@@ -211,10 +211,8 @@ describe('KbnLoggerJsonFormat', () => {
       expect(timestamp).toBe(moment.utc(time).format());
     });
 
-    it('logs in local timezone when useUTC is false', async () => {
-      const format = new KbnLoggerJsonFormat({
-        useUTC: false
-      });
+    it('logs in local timezone timezone is undefined', async () => {
+      const format = new KbnLoggerJsonFormat({});
 
       const result = await createPromiseFromStreams([
         createListStream([makeEvent('log')]),
diff --git a/src/server/logging/log_format_string.test.js b/src/server/logging/log_format_string.test.js
index ca572f8c03e661..e20b5eb59b76c1 100644
--- a/src/server/logging/log_format_string.test.js
+++ b/src/server/logging/log_format_string.test.js
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ const makeEvent = () => ({
 });
 
 describe('KbnLoggerStringFormat', () => {
-  it('logs in UTC when useUTC is true', async () => {
+  it('logs in UTC', async () => {
     const format = new KbnLoggerStringFormat({
-      useUTC: true
+      timezone: 'UTC'
     });
 
     const result = await createPromiseFromStreams([
@@ -51,10 +51,8 @@ describe('KbnLoggerStringFormat', () => {
       .toContain(moment.utc(time).format('HH:mm:ss.SSS'));
   });
 
-  it('logs in local timezone when useUTC is false', async () => {
-    const format = new KbnLoggerStringFormat({
-      useUTC: false
-    });
+  it('logs in local timezone when timezone is undefined', async () => {
+    const format = new KbnLoggerStringFormat({});
 
     const result = await createPromiseFromStreams([
       createListStream([makeEvent()]),