For a while I was convinced that the next “big thing” in craft beer would be hoppy saisons. American drinkers love their hops, and anything with a big dose of popular new varieties will probably sell well. This has led to a proliferation of sub-styles on the IPA, where wheat IPA, red IPA and black IPA are hopped up versions of American wheat ale, amber ale and porter. There have been a number of Belgian IPAs, but I haven’t seen examples that carry the buzz of a high end IPA (the one exception might be Brett IPAs, but I consider this a different sub-style). I’ve never understood this, the fruity and spicy flavors of Belgian style yeast can provide a perfect complement to the citrus and tropical fruit flavors of many hop varieties. My favorite examples are usually saisons with significant late/dry hop additions, when I get a chance to homebrew that is typically my focus. I was excited to see Idle Hands beers becoming regularly available, and intrigued when they launched Proeme, a dry hopped saison. Idle Hands Proeme is available year-round on draft and in 16 oz. tallboy cans.
Idle Hands Proeme pours hazy light yellow with a massive white head. The aroma is a mixture of floral hops with fruity and spicy yeast. The yeast leads the flavor, notes of apple, peppercorn and bubblegum. This is complemented by the hops, hints of lemon, grass and orange. The malts round out the flavor with touches of cereal and bread crust. Proeme is light and very easy to drink, sessionable at 5.0% ABV. The finish is crisp and dry with some lingering hop and yeast flavor. I really enjoyed Proeme, the flavors work well together. It’s nice to have Idle Hands beers back into the regular rotation! Hoppy Boston score: 4.25/5.
Previous Idle Hands Reviews:
Idle Hands Thing 1, Idle Hands Heide, Idle Hands Riding Shotgun, Idle Hands Adelais, Idle Hands D’aison, Idle Hands Triplication
Hoppy Boston 
