The brasserie is also home to a functioning brewery making beer under the Black Horse name.

Rather than keep the two functions separate, co-owner Lance Cochrane wanted to combine them for a little "wow factor".

So stainless steel fermenters sit in the middle of the dining room, surrounded by glass. The brewhouse can be seen behind a glass wall and the serving tanks sit on a raised platform over the bar.

"People are quite surprised when they walk in," Cochrane said.

"Part of it is because we call ourselves 'Blackrock Brasserie' and there's no indication of the brewery side of it in the name.

"So they don't get that until they're actually here. That's why we did it - it's a big wow factor."

Cochrane said the idea was to fill a niche by creating a fine dining brewery.

"The whole concept that we've been trying to push is the food and beer pairing," he said.

"Being a restaurant, we do have quite a big wine list as well because obviously not everyone coming drinks beer.

"But our slant is towards the food and beer pairing. That includes a beergustation, which is our four core beers and four dishes that are matched specifically to those beers."

Cochrane's Black Horse Brewhouse is one of the breweries serving up their beers at the Froth and Bubbles beer festival, sponsored by the Illawarra Mercury, later this month.

They join a long list that includes South Coast breweries Illawarra Brewing Company and HopDog BeerWorks, Feral and Little Creatures from Western Australia, Six String from the Central Coast and James Squire.

For those who prefer ciders, there's a number of cider makers coming too, including Darkes Cider from Darkes Forest.

The event runs from noon to 10pm on August 23 and 24, with the option of VIP tickets, which allow early entry into the venue.

Admission prices include a free tasting glass and then, once inside, tasting tokens can be bought for $2 each.

Each token will get you a 100ml sample of beer, which is more than some more established festivals.

Alternatively, you can buy a larger souvenir beer glass and opt to get that filled up for a few extra tokens.

There will be entertainment in the form of Melbourne comedy duo Elbowskin and also an event that combines the table of knowledge with speed dating.

FROTH AND BUBBLES: Beer festival, WIN Entertainment Centre, August 23-24