Chris Vola was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1985.

 

A former assistant greenskeeper, bouncer, waiter, editor, and graduate of the Columbia University MFA program, he is the award-winning author of the drinks books Yacht Rock Cocktails, Drink One for the Team, The Cocktail Atlas (a 2025 IACP Book of the Year), Cheers to Today, and Pour One Out; the novels Monkeytown and Only the Dead Know Brooklyn; the short story collection How to Find a Flock; the poetry collections You're Going to Hate the New Apartment, Impractical Taxidermy and E is for Ether; and the conspiracy theory coffee table book I is for Illuminati: An A-Z Guide to Our Paranoid Times. His short fiction, poetry, book reviews, and essays can be found in places like The Rumpus, PopMatters, The Brooklyn Rail, Rain Taxi, Paste Magazine, and Thrillist.

 

He lives and works in New York, where he is the center fielder for several storied beer league softball franchises, as well as head bartender at LB (formerly Little Branch), where he trained under late craft cocktail pioneer Sasha Petraske. The proud parent of at least 85 plants, he spends most days in the garden or speeding bike-wise through the streets of NYC pretending to be a character (usually Donkey Kong or Yoshi) from Mario Kart.