Look down the singles shelves at your local beer purveyor and you’ll find a offerings from a wide variety of American craft breweries. A few from this producer, a couple from that. But few craft breweries — few mega-breweries, for that matter — can match the incredibly wide range of options from the prolific Great Divide Brewing from Denver, Col.

Started in 1994 by home brewer Brian Dunn, Great Divide makes 10 regular production beers and over a dozen seasonal bottlings, most of which have been tossed a few accolades from a wide variety of festivals and numerous critics. The brewery itself was recognized by beeradvocate.com as the 7th Best All-Time Top Breweries on Planet Earth.

There’s a reason for that. Even with so many beers in production, Great Divide manages to inject both a signature malty style and a huge amount of character into almost every bottle. And, with so many great beers under one label, why settle on just one six-pack? I filled a mixed six of Great Divide's offerings and settled in for a tasty weekend.

Tasting notes for the six beers after the break:

This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2010.