Ageing Belgian dubbels

I've had 2010 Westmalle Dubbel that wasn't very good.

 

My experience is that they become less sweet. For some beers this is a good thing and others it just flattens them out too much. I would age the ones where you like the yeast characteristics but think they are muted behind the sweetness. Im personally aging CCB/Alesmith Dubbel Dare for this reason. I've never found any reason to age Chimay Red. A lot of people say Goose island Pere Jacques improves with age but I've never had the patience to let any of them sit.

If you're stocking up, then you have the opportunity to crack open bottles every 6 months or so and see when you like them best.

 

Oddly, I had the opposite finding. I had a 2010 and a 2011 and both were exceptional. I preferred the 2011, but not by much.

I've never had one older than 4 years, but that is because of temptation.

 

I've had fabulous St. Bernardus, Rochefort and Westvleteren 8s with a couple years on them, so it's worth a shot. But I would expect a noticeable difference as the years accumulated. I've had a Chimay red at four years, and it had the flavor profile of an empty glass. Pointless, aside from a fabulous smell of all the goodness dissipating. That said, if you go for a sweeter, more robust double with more material packed into it, that may give you some years. Besides the above, I'm thinking maybe a Witkap Pater dubbel or Kapittel Dubbel, or its Prior would be better. In fact, the quads and their ilk are so much more likely to work, at minimal extra investment, why bother with the doubles?

Besides the quads/strong dark ales, and the gueuzes, the other thing I'd mention are the Christmas seasonals. They're usually great to grab after new year and bank them for much, much later. I still see some on the shelves in some places, if you're coming soon. Grab some Orval, too, but not for more than 3-4 years, I'd say. Even for the biggees, like the St. B. 12 you mentioned, 8 years is probably the outside, and surely on a downward slope.

 

Most people don't but I've had the red Chimay with 2 years and it was great. That's about my only experience with aged doubles though.

 

I bought a case of Boulevard Nommo Dubbel on clearance and have been drinking them slowly over the last couple years. That is the only experience in the area, but they definitely improved with age for about a year and a half but have started to fall off.