Formerly a speech language pathologist, Amber Lambke shifted gears to respond to a community need for grain processing infrastructure and is the co-founder and CEO of Maine Grains, Inc., carried by specialty food stores and used by bakeries, breweries and chefs throughout the Northeast. She is also the founding director of the non-profit Maine Grain Alliance and its flagship event, the Kneading Conference. A creative problem solver, mother of two, weekend baker, and driving force behind Maine’s sustainable foods movement, Amber has worked with local businesses, state and national leaders and her community to successfully bring the cultivation and processing of grains back to the northeast.
Meet Joel:
Maine has a robust agricultural economy and vibrant craft brewing community, but we needed more infrastructure to connect these two important industries. Enter Blue Ox Malthouse.
In 2013, our Founder, Joel Alex, left his job, apartment, and “9-5” life to create a company with the goal of becoming a catalyst for fostering relationships between farmers, brewers, and other food producers along the grain supply chain.
In January 2014, with two tons of grain from Aroostook County, Joel processed his first pilot batch of malts in Belfast. A year later, in the Spring of 2015, Blue Ox Malthouse found a home in Lisbon Falls. From an empty warehouse to a fully functioning malthouse, Blue Ox began full malt production in the Fall of 2015 and held their Public Grand Opening on January 25th, 2016.
Since then, Blue Ox Malthouse has grown and developed— honing in on quality, increasing the farmers we work with, and expanding our product offerings. Becoming a social force for good is not a “one-and-done” deal. We strive every day to improve the world in which we live.
Meet Kerry:
Kerry Hanney is founder and baker behind Night Moves, a bakery in South Portland, Maine, dedicated to baking high quality naturally leavened bread and investigating the possibilities of sustainably grown regional grain. Night Moves’ aim is to make sustainable regional grain more accessible to Southern Maine, in order to improve community health and to help build consumer markets for Maine grain growers. Founded in 2016 with two loaves of bread in a studio apartment, Night Moves now supplies wholesale accounts in communities from Kennebunk to Brewer with thousands of whole grain loaves each month, and serves fresh bread, pastries, coffee, and pizza at the mouth of the Fore River in South Portland. Kerry’s work has been highlighted in Maine Magazine, Portland Press Herald, Martha Stewart Living, Food Network’s Best Bread Bakeries in America, London Financial Times, Food & Wine’s 100 Best Bakeries in America, and Food & Wine‘s 10 Most Essential Bakeries, who called Night Moves’ sourdough ‘Maine in bread form.’
