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You get three things from hops...Bitterness , flavor and aroma. I love all the hop flavor and aroma I can get but I am not big on bitterness that is out of balance. Its the bitterness that people associate with highly hopped beers like IPA's which is too bad. Sam Adams Boston Lager has a lot of hop aroma but not the high bitterness.
When I make beer I use noble hops like Hallertauer Mittlefruehs and East Kent Goldings. The Mittlkefruehs are nearly perfect for my preferences because they have huge aroma , good taste but low alpha acid content so the bitterness is easy to control. The East Kent Goldings have a great (but different than Mittlefrueh) aroma profile and also lots of flavor. Their Alpha acid content is 2 or more times that of the Mittlefruehs so more care is needed to get the flavor without over bittering. Czech Saaz hops are another good choice to get flavor and aroma with easy to control bitterness.
Its the flavor/bitterness line that is hard to walk when brewing. Its easy to get lots of aroma with little to no bittering but getting flavor without bittering requires some close control.
Now IPA's are generally made with hops that have extremely high alpha acid contents. Can easily be 7 times the alpha acid in Chinooks (a typical IPA hop) vs the Mittlefrueh hops. Originally this high alpha acid bittering was added to IPA's as a preservative. The IPA's had to survive long trips by seas on slow boats and high bittering with hops helps preserve the flavor , all be it a bitter flavor.
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