Challenger

Crisp and green-spicy with cedar and a dry floral edge. Bitters cleanly, which is why it shows up as both the copper addition and the late charge in a lot of English recipes.

Dual purpose

Origin United Kingdom

Code CHA

Released 1972

Bred by Wye College

Two or more independent sources

Smells like: Spice, Cedar, Floral, Green, Tea
Bitterness: Moderate (5–9% alpha)
In the glass: 1 beer here
Swap it for: Aramis · compare them →

Brewing values

range on filetypicalbreeder or labmerchant

Alpha acid

5–9% typical 7.4

5 9

2 sources, spread of 4%

Hopsteiner5–9Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
BarthHaas6.5–9Range over the last 4 crop years.

Beta acid

2.5–4.3% typical 3.5

2.5 4.3

2 sources, spread of 1.8%

Hopsteiner3–4Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
BarthHaas2.5–4.3Range over the last 4 crop years.

Cohumulone

27–30% of alpha typical 28.5

27 30

1 source, spread of 3% of alpha

Hopsteiner27–30Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.

Total oil

1–1.5 mL/100g typical 1.3

1 1.5

2 sources, spread of 0.5 mL/100g

Hopsteiner1–1.5Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
BarthHaas1–1.5Range over the last 4 crop years.

Alpha to beta runs about 2.1:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.

Oil composition

Not enough of this hop's oil is accounted for to show a breakdown. The sources on file name components totalling 54% of total oil — most of the balance is myrcene, which the source for this record doesn't publish. Rather than scale what's here up to 100% and invent the rest, here is only what was actually measured:

Myrcene30%
Humulene22.5%
Farnesene1.5%

Aroma

Spice
Cedar
Floral
Green
Tea
Earthy

How it gets used

Added at bittering, late boil, dry hop.

English Bitter
Strong Bitter
English IPA
Porter
British Brown Ale
American Amber Ale

No concentrated lupulin format has been produced for this variety.

In the glass · 1 beer from 1 brewery

Bitter Horseman Georgetown Brewing

What to swap it for

Aramis brewer-tested 61

aroma 54 · oils — · chemistry 90 · shifts dual to aroma partial data
Whitbread Golding Variety brewer-tested 58

aroma 51 · oils — · chemistry 85 partial data
Willamette brewer-tested 55

aroma 57 · oils — · chemistry 89 · shifts dual to aroma partial data
Lubelski 54

aroma 70 · oils — · chemistry 87 partial data
Hallertau Mittelfruh 50

aroma 63 · oils — · chemistry 82 · shifts dual to aroma partial data
Saaz 49

aroma 61 · oils — · chemistry 81 · shifts dual to aroma partial data

Scored on aroma overlap, oil composition and acid chemistry, then nudged up where a brewer has vouched for the swap by hand. An axis we haven't measured earns nothing, so a hop known only by its acid numbers caps out around 30 — the score is how much evidence there is for the swap, not just how close the numbers happen to be. Anything under 50 is a different beer, not a substitution.

Pedigree

Northern Brewer. Northern Brewer crossed with a German male.

For brewers and data folks: this hop as JSON · the source file