I’m getting back into the English ale kick, and see that there is a domestic Challenger hop available through Hops Direct. How close to the English hop is it?
How critical to an English pale is the bittering hop? If I used Magnum in place of either Challenger or Target, would it be obvious in the glass, provided I stuck to either EKGs or Fuggles as the flavor/aroma addition?
I my experience for bittering, you are better off using northern brewer (or Northdown) than magnum. If NB, target, and challenger are not available, I recently used Perle in a porter and it was great. Otherwise, just use EKG for bittering. The flavor profile from magnum is not bad, it’s just so different that it’s disappointing.
+1
Northern Brewer is a great bittering hop for English Ales and I like to use UK EKG’s for flavor and aroma in my ESB.
Challenger is also pretty good but go with the imports if you can.
Has anyone used the domestic Challengers? I like them a lot as a late hop and I’d love to be able to buy a pound at Hops Direct prices. But only if the flavor is similar enough to the imports.