I agree that a blonde is a good way to get the feel for various hop characters. I am currently drinking a blonde ale that came out very nicely… Mt. Hood for bittering and Perle for flavor and aroma, 1056 on the yeast. If you used a hop that was more associated with a pale ale (Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial , etc), you might have a very pale ale on your hands but I see no crime in it. If you wanted your blonde to be an ale version of a pilsner-type beer, anything clean is great and it wouldn’t have to be noble (hallertau, tettnanger, spalt, hersbrucker, saaz), etc. It could be Mt. Hood, Vanguard, Crystal, Styrian Goldings, Liberty, Perle, Northern Brewer, Santiam, Magnum and a number of other clean hops.
