Recipe Advice, Pale ale/IPA

First, I should say that I don't post here much, but I have really learned a lot from the forum. I make blondes. milds. bitters, lagers, ambers, and stouts. Pretty much like all beers. I do all grain.

So to the point, I have tryed some IPAs (Founder All Day IPA and Bell's Two Hearted) and am developing more of a taste for hoppier beers. I want to make a batch but want to make more of a crossover beer relative to hop flavor. Don't want a face puncher or a taste bud killer. Something just a little less than the two examples. So could I take NB's Dead Ringer and cut back the flavor and aroma hops by half or so and still have a reasonable beer thats balanced? Or do I take a good Pale Ale recipe and increase the flavor and aroma hops by 25 percent and try to work my way up?

Hope this makes some sense, and any advice or recipes would be appreciated.

 

Dead Ringer, if I'm not mistaken, is Northern Brewer's version of Bell's Two Hearted. If you like smoothness and Centennial hops, that's the way to go. But your approach is wrong, i.e. "So could I take NB's Dead Ringer and cut back the flavor and aroma hops by half or so and still have a reasonable beer thats balanced?"... In short, I would say NO. Brew as is or cut back on the bittering and add MORE late additions. Late additions usually do not add much bitterness. If you like a good tasting, great smelling hoppy beer then focus on late additions and less on bittering. I think you will be fine brewing this beer as is. I'm pretty confident that it is "less or equally" as hoppy as Bell's Two Hearted... not more.