I have been on a Czech hop profile kick.  This time around we examine Premiant hops.

An English dictionary would tell you that name means rewarding, and these hops do fit the bill.  They were released in 1996 and has been grown in other countries such as France since 2008.

All Czech hops have Saaz in their heritage as it is the case with Premiant hops.  They were bred using other, unnamed high alpha acid hops along with Saaz.

Here are the rest of the stats:

Origin: The Czech Republic

Aroma/Flavor: Interesting descriptions include clean, floral, slight citrus, pleasant, soft bitterness, well rounded and balanced bitterness

Alpha Acid: 7% – 9%

Typical Usage: It is a dual purpose hop in the sense that you can use them at the beginning of your boil.  The bitterness appears to be, by all reports, not harsh at all.  The aroma is supposedly stronger than Saaz so using them in large quantities at the end of your boil or in a dry hopping capacity may be fun to try. 

If you were to ask me how to use Premiant hops, I would tell you to use them as a bittering hop in some German lagers. They would save you some money since you would not need as much to get the level from the same amount of a noble hop variety.

If you liked the way that application turned out, then you could experiment on using them later in the boil.  I think any saison or farmhouse ale would work.

When I looked for substitutions for Premiant, I found a whole bunch of question marks.  If you found a recipe calling for these hops, I guess there is really nothing that takes their place.  I am sure that Saaz would do in a pinch.

Have a great time brewing with these hops.  As always, leave your comments below if you have used them.