Challenger

England's versatile dual-purpose hop — cedar, spice, and green tea.

Origin

Kent

Country

United Kingdom

Released

1972

Alpha Acid

6.5–8.5%

What it tastes like

Challenger is a classic English dual-purpose hop, valued for smooth bitterness and a distinctive cedar, spicy and green-tea aroma with a hint of fruit. It is a backbone of English bitters and ales, equally at home providing clean bittering or characterful late aroma.

cedargreen teaspicyfruity

Best in these styles

bitter / ESBenglish pale aleporterbrown ale

Tasting Tip

Challenger rewards a split addition — early for its smooth bitterness, late for the cedar-and-spice aroma that defines many English ales.

Beers showcasing Challenger

Specific beer examples coming soon.

Substitutes & relatives

If you can't source Challenger, these hops bring overlapping character.

Lineage & family

How Challenger connects to the rest of the hop family — its parents, and the varieties it spawned. Trace the full pedigree in the Hop Lineage explorer →

All 3 descendants
Pilgrim · Admiral · Omega

Founding lineage

● 2L118 62% ● 7k491 12% ● Kent Golding 12% ● OY1 6% ● BB1 6%

Blood relatives

Genetically closest in the pedigree (may taste different):

Northdown

earthy · spicy · cedar

Target

sage · spice · citrus

Vojvodina

Toyomidori

For brewers — technical profile

Alpha Acid

6.5–8.5%

Beta Acid

3.5–5.0%

Total Oil

0.5–1.5 mL/100g

Oil composition

myrcene

20–30%

humulene

25–30%

caryophyllene

8–12%

farnesene

0.1–2%

History

Challenger was bred at Wye College and introduced in 1972. A granddaughter of Northern Brewer (and niece of Northdown), it became one of England's most popular dual-purpose hops.

Sources

So you can see nothing here is made up — the published specifications on this page are traceable to grower / breeder data:

Freshness Note

Challenger keeps reasonably well for an English aroma hop; still, cold sealed storage preserves its cedar-spice top notes.

Explore more hops

→ Browse all hop varieties

→ More from Kent