Great insight, thanks so much. As for my previous attempts, the last batch I tried was strange. Did 85/15 2-Row and Flaked Wheat, bittered a tad with Magnum and blasted it with Kohatu at the end and dry-hop. The hops just....vanished. I ended up with what tasted like a decent American wheat. It was bizarre.
The batch prior to that was decent (2-Row/Oats, Magnum bittered, big Citra), but I used unfiltered tap water as a test. What misery that was. I ended up with a good beer in the background of a chlorinated mess.
Those were my first two kegged batches. Prior to that, my attempt ended up with some strange oxidation/infection post-bottling. The beer darkened significantly and developed an almost band-aid/Bretty type of note with no hop, grain or yeast flavor. Just off putting.
Columbus and Galaxy are definitely whoppers. I guess my inspiration was the keg of HF Double Galaxy that popped up in my local watering hole recently. I had it a few years ago in Vermont and forgot how much I love it, so I'm going for a similar flavor profile with a little "dankness" added from the Columbus/CTZ.
I love my IPAs with my tap water, though I am diligent to use campden to strip the chloramines and lactic for the pH.