Force Majeure Alcohol-Free Beers

Force Majeure is a Belgian brand of beers under 0.5% in traditional Belgian styles, set up in Genk in 2019 by Stijn Panis. It has no brewery of its own: a Belgian brewery it doesn’t name brews the beers under contract.

Who are Force Majeure?

Stijn Panis, a former financial consultant, set up Force Majeure in Genk in 2019, and its first beer, the Traditional Blond, came out that spring. Force Majeure names only Panis as its founder, though Belgian press in 2026 also named Fabien Doutrepont and Joachim Tops as co-founders. It bills itself as “the first real Belgian non-alcoholic beer brand”.

We used to call Force Majeure a brewery. It doesn’t brew: in 2020 and 2021 it told beer writers that it develops its recipes and has them brewed under contract by a Belgian brewery, which it prefers not to name, and its company registration lists only drinks wholesale and retail. Its director is Panis’s own company, and we found no larger brewer or drinks group behind it, so we show it as independent.

How Force Majeure makes its beers

Force Majeure doesn’t say on its website. In 2021 it told the Dutch beer writer Bierschrijver that it doesn’t de-alcoholise its beers: it brews them from a wort with few fermentable sugars, and adds spices. Dry Drinker’s description of the Tripel Hop says the opposite, that it’s fully fermented and then de-alcoholised. Every beer contains sucralose, a sweetener, as the Dutch shop Alcoholvrij Bierhuis lists the ingredients, and it lists cherry juice concentrate in the Kriek. We used to describe the beers as 0% alcohol; they’re 0.4%, according to most sources.

The Force Majeure range

Force Majeure makes five core beers in classic Belgian styles. The Traditional Blond, its first, is “full yet fresh, and finely balanced between bitter and hoppy”, Force Majeure says, and won gold at the 2026 World Alcohol-Free Awards; we score it 7.9. The Bruin, a Belgian brown beer with “tones of caramel, cinnamon and a hint of roasted malt”, has been sold in Force Majeure’s own shop as Dubbel since 2026. We used to call it Double Bruin and file it with our stouts; we score it 8.0.

The Tripel is brewed from barley, wheat and oats, with spices; we used to call it the world’s first alcohol-free tripel, but we found no source for that. The Tripel Hop adds more hops to the same base and won gold at the 2026 World Alcohol-Free Awards. The Kriek, a cherry beer, won silver in 2025. We score the Tripel and the Kriek 8.1, and the Tripel Hop 8.0. None of them is a wheat beer, but we file Belgian ales with our wheat beers. In 2025 it also brewed a Winter Ale for De Warmste Week, the Flemish charity fundraiser: an easy-drinking blond with chai-like spice, under 0.5%.

The Force Majeure beers in our directory

Strengths are 0.4% according to most sources, and the Winter Ale’s under 0.5%; we haven’t seen the labels. The Kriek’s and Tripel’s calorie figures are from Alko, Finland’s state drinks shop. Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Force Majeure

Two Force Majeure beers were in stock in the UK when we checked. On 28 October 2026 Dry Drinker had the Kriek in cases of 6, 12 and 24 bottles, at £19.50 for six, and on 29 October The Alcohol Free Co had the Kriek and the Winter Ale at £3.38 a bottle or £19.99 for six. Those are affiliate links. Both shops had the other four sold out, Wise Bartender doesn’t sell the brand, and Force Majeure’s own shop, in Belgium, had sold out of everything. For more, see our best Belgian alcohol-free beers.

Facts checked against Force Majeure’s website and shop, the Belgian company register, Bierschrijver, Beer Idiots, Made in Limburg, Alcoholvrij Bierhuis, Alko, Untappd, Dry Drinker, Wise Bartender and the World Alcohol-Free Awards’ results, October 2026.