Just curious if anyone has ever tried waiting to add hops at a later point in the boil? Almost every recipe I've seen has a 60 min charge, but if you wanted to focus more on the flavor and aroma, can you skip the early additions to avoid some of the bitterness?
Yes! It's called "hop bursting" and it's fairly common.
A good recipe is Jamil Zainasheff's "Evil Twin" as an example.
Here's my version (10 gallons!):
20 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 5 79.2 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 6 7.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 7 5.9 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8 3.0 %
12.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 9 3.0 %
2.0 oz Chocolate (Crisp) (630.0 SRM) Grain 10 0.5 %
2.0 oz Chocolate Malt (pale) (225.0 SRM) Grain 11 0.5 %
2.00 oz Centennial [11.90 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 12 24.9 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 13 14.8 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 11.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [11.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 15 4.1 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 16 0.0 IBUs