La Trappe Alcohol-Free Beers
One La Trappe beer in our directory: Nillis, 0.0%, launched in 2021 and reported as the world’s first alcohol-free Trappist beer.
La Trappe is the beer of the brewery at Koningshoeven Abbey in Berkel-Enschot, near Tilburg in the Netherlands, founded within the abbey walls in 1884, according to Wikipedia. Today the brewery is a subsidiary of Royal Swinkels Family Brewers, and in 2021 it launched Nillis, reported as the world’s first alcohol-free Trappist beer.
- Brewery: Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven, at Koningshoeven Abbey, Berkel-Enschot, near Tilburg
- Founded: 1884, within the abbey walls, according to Wikipedia
- Owner: A subsidiary of Royal Swinkels Family Brewers runs it; the abbey owns the buildings and equipment. Not independent
- Size: 145,000 hectolitres, Wikipedia says (no year given)
- Trappist: One of eleven Trappist breweries in 2021, DH reported
- Alcohol-free: Nillis, 0.0%, launched in August 2021, and later Epos 0.0
- Where to buy: Listed by Dry Drinker and The Alcohol Free Co, but sold out at both
Who are La Trappe?
La Trappe is brewed by Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven, the brewery of the abbey of Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven in Berkel-Enschot, near Tilburg. It was “founded in 1884 within the walls of Koningshoeven Abbey”, Wikipedia says, and “As with all other Trappist breweries, the brewery exists in order to finance the monastery.” When Nillis came out in 2021, the Belgian paper DH counted eleven Trappist breweries. We didn’t find a date for the founding of the abbey itself.
Who owns the brewery?
In 1999 “a limited liability company was set up as a subsidiary of the large commercial brewer, Bavaria”, and that year “the new company began to take over day-to-day operations”, Wikipedia says, while “the buildings and equipment are owned by the abbey”. The brewery withdrew the Trappist logo on 1 December 1999 and was granted the right to display it again from 9 September 2005, according to Wikipedia.
Bavaria dropped that name in June 2018 to become Swinkels Family Brewers, now Royal Swinkels, and Wikipedia says the abbey’s brewery “is a subsidiary of Swinkels Family Brewers, whilst the buildings and equipment remain in the ownership of the abbey”; Just Drinks reported the same in February 2024. Royal Swinkels has been family-owned for seven generations, and its brands include Bavaria, Swinckels’, La Trappe and Rodenbach; in 2024 it had nine breweries, close to 7 million hectolitres, about 2,000 staff, and business in more than 130 countries, according to Wikipedia. Because the brewery belongs to a larger group, La Trappe doesn’t get our independent badge.
What La Trappe brews
Wikipedia lists Blond, Dubbel, Isid’or, Tripel, Quadrupel (with an oak-aged version), Witte Trappist, a seasonal Bockbier, the organic PUUR and Epos, plus Tilburg’s Dutch Brown Ale for export. Just Drinks gave the Blond as 6.5% and the Dubbel as 7% in a 2024 report on a distribution deal with Haus Cramer, the owner of Warsteiner.
We found no awards for Nillis. Review sites aren’t awards, but The Daily Pour shows a BeerAdvocate staff score of 82 for it.
La Trappe’s alcohol-free beers
“The monastic community really wanted to respond to the marketing demand for a nonalcoholic beer,” Abbot Bernardus said in the abbey’s news in December 2021, and “From our side, this new beer would have to be nonalcoholic, organic, and flavorful.” The idea came about three years ago, one of the brothers told Omroep Brabant at the launch, adding that it wasn’t a matter of taking a Trappist beer and removing the alcohol. The only ingredient list we found, from a Dutch shop, doesn’t say organic, so we don’t call it organic.
Nillis went on sale at the abbey on Saturday 21 August 2021, at first only in its tasting room, cloister shop and online store, DH reported. Omroep Brabant reported big crowds in Berkel-Enschot to try what it called the world’s first alcohol-free Trappist beer, and Vatican News described it the same way. In 2024 Internazionale said it was still the first and only Trappist beer of its kind.
The name comes from the Latin words for nothing (nihil) and none (nullus), and also refers to the Nile, which has its source in Uganda, the abbey’s news says: “some of the brewery profits go to Our Lady of Victoria Abbey, our daughterhouse in Uganda.” Vatican News reported that part of the proceeds would go to projects in Uganda.
La Trappe Nillis is 0.0%, and its label reads “La Trappe Nillis, 0.0% alcohol, 100% Trappist”. The abbey says it’s “based on La Trappe Dubbel”, and Vatican News reported that it’s brewed to a traditional recipe with no compromise on the monastery’s beer quality. Internazionale reported in 2024 that it’s made like a traditional alcoholic beer at the abbey, though not by the monks, and that the monks oversee the recipe and the brand. It also said the beer is then taken to Swinkels Family Brewers, where the alcohol is removed, and bottled in Belgium; we found that in that one report only.
Its descriptions differ. Vatican News calls it dark amber, Building Catholic Culture describes “an amber beer with a stronger hop profile (though not overbearing) and greater complexity”, and the Dutch shop alcoholvrijbierhuis.nl calls it fruity and malty, with a mild bitterness and a caramel-sweet aftertaste. Dry Drinker, though, sells it as “a 0.0% ABV Dutch Trappist alcohol free wheat beer”, hazy golden with banana, clove and spice, and that is why our directory files it with wheat beers; Wikipedia calls it an alcohol-free dark beer.
alcoholvrijbierhuis.nl lists water, barley malt, hops and hop extract, and gives 32 kcal per 100ml; we didn’t find the brewery’s own figures. Dry Drinker tags it vegan, which the brewery doesn’t say in anything we read. The abbey has since added a second alcohol-free beer, Epos 0.0, which alcoholvrijbierhuis.nl said in April 2025 offers “a rich and layered flavor experience”. We didn’t find Epos 0.0 on sale in the UK.
How La Trappe Nillis compares
Alcohol-free beers from Dutch and Belgian breweries in our directory. Calories per 100ml as in our calorie calculator; checked 1 November 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
The La Trappe beer in our directory
Checked 1 November 2026. The calorie figure is from alcoholvrijbierhuis.nl, a Dutch shop. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
Where to buy La Trappe
On 1 November 2026 Dry Drinker listed Nillis in cases of 6, 12 and 24 but had sold out of every size (an affiliate link), and The Alcohol Free Co’s listing was sold out too. At its launch in 2021 Nillis was sold through the abbey’s own online store, DH reported; we couldn’t read La Trappe’s website, which opens with an age check. For more, see our guides to the best Dutch alcohol-free beer and the best Belgian alcohol-free beer.
Facts checked against Wikipedia (De Koningshoeven Brewery and Royal Swinkels), Just Drinks, the abbey’s news on trappist.be, Omroep Brabant, DH, Vatican News, Internazionale, Building Catholic Culture, The Daily Pour, alcoholvrijbierhuis.nl, The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker, 1 November 2026.
La Trappe Beers in Our Directory
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