Our Story
One afternoon, while brewing craft beer in our garage, Jeff asked our friend, who trades grain for a living, to get some local barley to use for their next homebrew session. After a month of searching, the closest barley he could find, was from Idaho. The lack of locally sourced barley sparked an immediate interest and quickly became a business idea—find local farmers who can grow barley and learn how to malt it, then sell it to local breweries. After three years of research and development, Tiller Malt Company was created.
Tiller Malt strives to be a sounding board between the brewer/distiller and the farmer. Through collaboration, we are able to provide direct and detailed feedback to farmers, to modify future crops, in order to meet the needs of local brewers and distillers. From beer to spirits to baked goods, Tiller Malt is just one piece of the intertwining food web—we are focused on collaborating with local businesses who want to share in telling the story of where the products we consume come from.
Alysha Gillies
co-Owner
Alysha Gillies, co-owner, is also a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery at a local hospital. Additionally, Alysha has a degree in Planning, Public Policy and Management with a Minor in Business from the University of Oregon. Prior to becoming a nurse, Alysha had 7 years of experience in sales.
Her passion to know where our products come from and love for a frosty brew, drives her desire to teach the local beer and spirits consumers about the intricacies of craft malt.
Jeff Gillies
founder / head Maltster
Jeff Gillies, founder and head Maltster, is also a Firefighter with Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Fire Science and a Minor in Business from Eastern Oregon University. Jeff also loves the challenge and creativity of home brewing. Home brewing led to his discovery in a shortage of locally grown barley. Which sparked the idea to work with area farmers to grow specialty varietals of barley to produce malt for area brewers and distillers—and eventually he founded Tiller Malt Company!
Jeff’s malting experience began by attending a week-long maltster’s training course at the Canadian Malted Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) in Winnipeg, Canada. The course led Jeff to design and build our current semi-automated, 400-pound germination/kiln malting system.
Alysha and Jeff Gillies with our children Slayden and Gwenivere, in front of the germination/kiln tank during our first run of production!
“Together, we strive to provide unique and specialty craft malt to local brewers and distillers, while teaching our children about the values of hard work and exploring their passions in life!”