New Belgium Brewing, maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale, has announced plans to expand the brewerys market territory along the eastern seaboard. The Colorado brewer will open Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. in September of 2011. The added territory will make the nations thirdlargest craft brewer available in 29 states. New Belgium currently distributes its beers in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

WALGREENS BEGINS SELLING $3 SIX-PACKS

Walgreen’s quietly rolled out its own a private label beer in December. Big Flats 1901 has a suggested retail price of $2.99 for a six-pack of cans and is now available in more than 4,000 locations. The beer is made by High Falls Brewing in Rochester, N.Y., which also makes Genesee brand beers. After trying the beer on his Comedy Central television show comedian Stephen Colbert declared himself not drunk enough to enjoy it, but suggested it might be the perfect beer to drink AFTER drinking beer that “costs more than a carnival goldfish.”

Taxes are being blamed as beer sales in the United Kingdom, particularly in bars and pubs, continue to fall. Total sales were off 3.9% in 2010, while pub sales tumbled 7.5%. Trade in supermarkets and stores rose .6%. The totals indicate 333 million fewer pints were sold in pubs in 2010. On-trade beer sales have now fallen 20.2%. Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of British Beer & Pub Association, said the figures revealed the government was cooking the golden goose because lower sales meant the government collected 257m less in tax revenue. She called for plans to further boost taxes to be abandoned. Huge tax rises are having a big impact on beer sales, she said. The government should abandon plans for above inflation hikes in beer tax in the budget, as further rises are simply unsustainable.

Pubs and clubs in Great Britain now will be allowed to serve beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks in smaller glasses after the government said it was scrapping complex regulations that dictate the measures sold on licensed premises. Under the changes pubs and clubs will be able to sell in Australian-style “schooners,” which hold 400ml or two-thirds of a pint. (As a point of order, schooner is not actually a defined measure under Australian law. The amount in such a glass varies in different parts of the country.)

BeerBooks.com is offering the Randy Carlson collection of historical beer and brewery material for sale. The collection was amassed over the period of 25 years in support of “Carlson’s Brewery Research.” The collection consists of 2,577 individual published items. The primary goal in selling the collection is to preserve it in its entirety within an institution or organization that will make the materials available for public use.