Bittering hops!!!

[Wolfy]

Northdown, Northern Brewer and Perle (can't comment on Pilgrim) are typically hops that are considered to be mild, pleasant, neutral, so if those are the only hops being considered, its easy enough to understand how any flavours from bittering additions would easily be masked by late additions or not noticed at all.

Iso-hop extracts are totally different again, so those are irrelevant, since it's essentially just the stable bittering compounds being added.

The vast majority of the beer consumed here in Australia and in the USA (pale, boring bland lagers) have no late hop additions, the only Australian widely available non-micro-brewery Ale (Coopers Pale and Sparkling) also have no late hop additions, and a range of various German beers also often have no late hops (Bock, Kolsch, Helles), so it's interesting that a commercial brewer says "There aren’t any beers that I know of that don’t have late hops". Obviously I'm only a home brewer, have never been to brewing-college, so I can't suggest that a qualified commercial brewer is 'wrong' however, that does not mean I agree with what is quoted above.

[Rookie]

Not only could I taste Apollo when used purely for bittering, but I could smell them the next day when disposing of the liquid from my body.

You didn't go until the next day? Talk about a cast iron bladder.

[super_simian]

When discussing bittering and the perception of "harshness", it's all about the cohumulone levels.