THE grandson of the former pub landlord of The Hand and Flowers has been crowned best in its class for his brewery in New Zealand.

Joe Emans, who is from Marlow, lived next door to the now Tom Kerridge-owned pub as a child as his grandfather ran the popular pub.

Before Joe was born, his mum worked in The Cross Keys, which is now rebranded as The Oarsman, meaning he spent his childhood amongst the town’s brewery industry.

Joe moved to New Zealand in 2012 and inspired by his upbringing, alongside the culture in his new country, he began brewing his own beer at home.

After success in brewing out of his garage, he went on to set up the Three Sisters Brewery which won the Champion New Zealand Microbrewery Award putting the business on the map across the country in 2021.

As a result, Joe started a PledgeMe campaign in an attempt to grow his business.

Over £250,000 was donated from 170 investors with the money was used to buy bigger fermenters, double pouring taps, a canning line, and a new chilling facility as part of an expansion.

This meant that at this year’s Brewers Guild Awards, the business was entered into the small brewery category, which it won too.

The brewery also scored three gold medals, one silver and three bronze for its beers on offer.

One beer on offer is a stout named ‘The Hand and Flowers’ to mark Joe’s grandad’s legacy.

It is described as one of the business's “main beers”.

Joe also revalued that one of the fermenters at the brewery has been named ‘Ernie’ in honour of his late grandad who he believes would have been “pretty happy” about his success.

He said: “It is almost a family tradition.

“I think it runs in the blood somehow.

“When I came over to New Zealand, there is a strong home brewing culture.

“A lot of people here brew their own beer at home in their garages so I got very sucked into that because of growing up around it so much.

“I was basically home brewing out of my garage and people were telling me these beers are really good and to start doing it commercially.

“I started with one keg at a time and then people kept wanting more of it so it got bigger and bigger.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t really fit anymore in my basement.”