What if you could travel the world, led by an internationally acclaimed brewer and beer experts?
Beer Culture Travels is just that, a project inspired by the wonderful moments experienced by Qiuxia and Kevin Welch over the past 20 years.
With a passion for travel, art, languages, interacting with locals, and much more, the idea to curate organized trips to share our experiences and personal connections with beer-curious friends evolved into a reality.
Now, we are happy to create and share amazing experiences traveling to many of the most rich beer-cultures destinations the world has to offer.
You’ll be personally guided by Qiuxia and Kevin Welch for the entire adventure. Both are veterans in the brewing and travel world. You will get a “behind the scenes” view of the brewing process at many of our stops. We will be spending time with brewers in the industry who have been personal friends with the Welch’s for years.
To top it all off, we will experience the intricate fabric of how beer is woven into the very fabric of local life at every stop.
Our tours offer a generous amount of free time as well so you have a chance to interact with the locals, check out art museums, go hear some live music, or just hit the countryside to do a little exploration of your own. We provide suggestions of our own personal favorite “must do’s”. And you can always just hang out with your hosts in your free time.
However you choose to craft your experience, Beer Culture Travels is certain that you will carry many memorable stories with you to share with your friends and family.
Cheers!
MEET YOUR HOSTS
Qiuxia and Kevin met as graduate students studying the French Horn. Throughout a 12-year career playing the horn, the two fell in love with beer, particularly the Belgian tradition. The next several summers were spent traveling the Belgian countryside, meeting brewing friends, learning from them, building lifelong friendships, and brewing alongside them.
In 2011, the Welch’s founded Boom Island Brewing Company which focused on presenting the Twin Cities with quality examples of the flavors of the beers that they had experienced in Belgium. Many conversations about those trips were shared with customers of the taproom and numerous trips were planned for visitors who planning to visit Belgium when finally, one of the regulars suggested, “Why don’t we all just go together?”
What should have been obvious from the start, organically grew into this wonderful adventure which has created many memories and friendships since 2017.
Kevin Welch
(Brewer and Director of Fun)
Kevin was born in Memphis, TN and grew up in the rural south. Kevin studied the French Horn and attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and then graduate school at Western Michigan University. After graduate school, Kevin commenced a 12 year career playing the horn professionally. It was through a shared passion of craft beer amongst the orchestra musicians that he was introduced to Belgian beer. The couple were fortunate enough to spend several summers traveling Belgium learning many secrets and techniques that make that tradition so unique and diverse. In 2011, Kevin and Qiuxia founded Boom Island Brewing Company specializing in the Belgian tradition of brewing. In 2020, Kevin was appointed Director of Operations at Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA, the 25th largest brewery in the country. By 2022, Kevin joined forces with MetroNOME Brewery in St. Paul, MN as Director of Brewing Operations, which has a mission to fund music education for underprivileged youth.
Qiuxia Welch
(The experienced tour guide)
Quixia is a native of Chengdu, China in the province of Sichuan. She came to the U.S. for college and attended Augsburg University studying the French Horn. She Continued on with Graduate school at the University of Minnesota on the same career path as a professional horn player. Qiuxia enjoyed a successful 12 year career as a professional horn player and then transitioned to being a business owner, opening Boom Island Brewing Company. Bringing people together and sharing cultures started when she was the Executive Director of a local non-profit organization, Red Thread Charities. RTC is an organization that takes doctors, nurses and physical therapists to Chinese orphanages to train and build therapy programs to improve the quality of life of the children. This experience guiding the team of physicians through sometimes remote areas of China is the foundation of the professionalism of Qiuxia’s travel host expertise. Today, Qiuxia works as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at her Alma Mater, the University of Minnesota.
