I may have been hasty in that judgement Ken. So, I looked back at the original recipe and remembered I had used 4lbs of floor malt. The S-189 batch used only BM pils which is no where near as malty and rich as floor malt. I also used farmhouse Spalt Sel pellets which were very bland as compared to the ones used in the OP. So, I got less hop and malt flavor from the S-189 batch due to the ingredients and it made the beer less lively than in the OP. Probably made the bittering charge a bit more harsh.
Oh yeah, now I remember you describing that beer. You said that the hop character was not there and the beer came out really bland and tasteless. I have had beers like that too... like,
Where are the hops!? which must be from hops that are older, stale, etc. or possibly mismarked with 5.2% when they're really 2.3% or whatever. I have to say that this Barke Pils is really nice and may be the only Weyermann pils I pick up from now on. If I'm feeling it, I'll use it in a pils or helles and if not, I'll stick with Best Malz. The floor-malted Weyermann seems "iffy" to me and I've had issues with the standard Weyermann pils as well... inconsistent and sometimes "dirty" tasting.