These are the beers they serve on tap only and have no intention of bottling.

It’s a big win for those who live near the brewery – they can stop by on their way home from work or on Friday night and try the new addition.

But if you live out of town or even interstate, well, you’re out of luck.

Such was the case for us with the small batch beers from Brisbane’s Newstead Brewing Company.

They’d pumped out around 90 small batch beers since they swung the doors open in December 2013.

But those beers all stayed up there.

Those 90-odd batches were on top of their core range – which they do bottle (I highly advise you to try and find some of them. The IPA and amber ale are particularly good).

For the first time, the brewery has bottled one of those small batch creations – The Outpost American stout.

As is so often the case in craft beer “American” is code for “a load of hops went into this beer”.

And it is so with The Outpost, which could just as easily have been tagged a black IPA.

The beer combines the resin and melon notes of the hops (which ones they were I’m not sure) with the dark chocolate and coffee flavours you’d expect from a stout.

On paper those two flavour profiles sound like they’d go together like a car wreck.

And I’d agree – the black IPA is a bit of a mystery in that regard. It really shouldn’t work, but it does.

The Outpost is a bit more towards the “black” part of the equation than the “IPA” part, with the dark chocolate and coffee flavours being a bit more upfront.

The beer will be a bit tricky to find in Wollongong – the brewery sent me this sample. Maybe ask your local craft beer bottlo to get some in.