Developing my palate, need help

I'm still new to home brewing (20 batches), but my palate has slowly become "better" for lack of a "better" word. However, as a longtime BMC drinker who only began drinking craft beers in the last couple years, I can't pinpoint specific aromas and tastes.

I remember reading on HBT that a good way to develop one's palate is to blindfold yourself and smell things that are common aromas: pine, grapefruit, etc. I want to do this, just haven't collected the ingredients to do so. However, my question is more specific. I have really been enjoying New Dogtown lately. The aroma I get from it is the same (I think) that I pick up from Stone's IPA. The only way I can describe it with my limited knowledge is that it smells like I would imagine hop pellets would smell like if I mashed them up and stuck them in my nose.

I don't get this sensation from every APA or IPA, but those two beers I do. Now that I've typed this all out, I realize everyone has a different palate. But just in case, what am I smelling? Is it centennial that produces that aroma (I have never used it in my own brews)? Is that the "resin" aroma that people describe? Come to think of it, I'm not sure I even know what grapefruit smells like. Wow, I really am still new to this

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but "General Beer Discussion" seemed appropriate. I also apologize if this is stickied somewhere that I didn't see.

Maybe this weekend I should grab a grapefruit, a bunch of citrus, flowers, pine needles, and the like and have SWMBO test me while I'm blind folded.

Thanks for any input. Cheers

I've never had the beer you are talking about so I can't help with what you are smelling in it.

I've enjoyed better quality beer for many years but living in a small town, my selection is limited.
I know the beers that I like, and when I started homebrewing I just started there.
So many beer styles and I haven't tried more than a small percentage of them.

I simply brew things that I know I like, and throw in some new things to try from time to time.
There is probably some serious benifit to what you are trying to do. If you can better identify the things you smell and taste, you can have a head start building your own beers.
I just try and build on what I do know and try brewing different things and learn that way.