Am I crazy?

Okay, tonight in pursuit of material for my blog (coming soon...) and gaining experience towards becoming a BJCP judge...I got three American IPA's listed in the BJCP 'classic' examples of the style: Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Founder's Centennial IPA and Avery IPA. At most I caught a whiff of generic 'citrus' but not the grapefruitiness I was expecting in the aromas. I actually got more caramel/toffe from the aromas with a general 'hoppy' flavor and aroma.

I acknowledge that I am new at this and currently have a bad sense memory, but somebody please tell me I'm not crazy.

All beers were great by the way.

The freshness would greatly impact the aroma of those beers. I'm a big fan of Two Hearted but sometimes the aroma is better than other times. I know what you are saying.

Yep, freshness counts big time!

I've had all of those at times not smell like good IPAs. Freshness is key.

Sure, but so does paying attention to the 'general hoppiness.' These beers are malty to balance out the hops, to be sure, but if you want to get the hop aromas you're going to have to pick them apart in a bit more detail than just saying that they are there.