Look at the log file in `/usr/local/var/log/elasticsearch.log`. **TL;DR** If you look at the formula definition with: brew edit elasticsearch@6 You will find the content of the plist file used for this service, which define the output log as: #{var}/log/elasticsearch.log According to the [documentation](https://www.rubydoc.info/github/Homebrew/brew/Formula:var): >#var ⇒ Object > >The directory where the formula's variable files should be installed. This directory is not inside the HOMEBREW_CELLAR so it persists across upgrades. According to the [source code](https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/blob/master/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb#L825): def var HOMEBREW_PREFIX/"var" end You can find the `HOMEBREW_PREFIX` with: brew --prefix It is most likely `/usr/local`. So you will find your log file in `/usr/local/var/log/elasticsearch.log`.