Meet the W Philadelphia’s New Beverage Director Isai Xolalpa

With summer on the verge, the W Philadelphia in Center City is gearing up with a revamped cocktail menu with a new face at the helm.

“Drinks are equal to food,” says Isai Xolalpa, W Philadelphia’s new beverage director. “This is why the direction of the hotel’s culinary direction is beverage and food.”

W Philadelphia

Xolalpa, 35, who was has lived in Philly for roughly 70 days, was the previous beverage director at the W Aspen in Colorado. He comes to the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection during a seasonal transitional that inspired him to “reset everything on the beverage menu completely.”

“All 13 drinks on the menu are new,” Xolalpa says. “When I came to the W Philly, I wanted to give people something that smells, tastes, and feels like summer. So I reimagined what we could do here for the season.”

W Philadelphia

The 13 new cocktails are broken up into three categories: Eight of them are signature, three of them are classics (margaritas, spritz, and ranch water), and two are zero proof (such as their I’ll Drive that’s made with non-alcoholic gin, raspberry syrup, Fever Tree tonic and W Faloma made with aloe vera, super kumquat, super grapefruit, simple syrup, soda water). Xolalpa, who grew up in Mexico City and Texas, says his menu was inspired by his upbringing in the two regions.

“The spice and culture of the west can be found in these beverages,” Xolalpa says. “Ranch water, tequila, cilantro, and lime influences the fruity and savory experiences in a lot of these cocktails.”

W Philadelphia

Over a third of the cocktails on the menu includes tequila (whether it’s Don Julio Blanco, Patron Reposado, Casamigos Blanco, or Hornitos Reposado and Plata), with several of them prepared with some form of super lime, super lemon, and super kumquat — ingredients that Xolalpa describe as environmentally friendly.

“Technique wise, a lot of the juices I use for these cocktails are rooted in zero-waste,” Xolalpa describes in the “super juicing” process. “We apply technology at the bar that carefully uses the whole citrus fruit combined with citric acid to get us eight times more juice without wasting any of the fruit’s skin, pulp, and natural ingredients.”

W Philadelphia

With these summer cocktails being served at the W Philadelphia’s popular WET Deck pool rooftop, Xolalpa says the vision for these cocktails is to “get away, but not drunk.”

“These cocktails are meant for you to savor and enjoy, not get hammered,” Xolalpa says about the low ABV (alcohol by volume) in these beverages. “There’s been a movement of drinkers who want to be able to enjoy three cocktails for a nice buzz without a total hangover. And then there’s people who quit liquor altogether, but want a good zero proof cocktail and shouldn’t feel left out. We do both here.”

W Philadelphia

From their fruity and bright cocktails (such as their Always Sunny that’s made with Ketel One Vodka, St. Germain, passionfruit, club soda and Watermelon Mule made with Patron Reposado, watermelon juice, super lime, ginger beer) to their more experimental ones (such as their EspressoTina made with Grey Goose vanilla infused, Vigo Amaro, MHL Chocolate liquor, MHL Espresso, coconut liquor, coffee oil and Tiki Latte made with Bacardi 8, pineapple, super kumquat, simple syrup, espresso oil, orange bitters) — the W Philadelphia is setting its sights on having one of the hottest cocktail programs of the summer.