On this week’s show, the driving force behind one of Chicago’s premier cocktail lounges stops by, to talk about a category of spirits you’ve probably never heard of before. Don’t worry, it’s nothing to be bitter about. While studying Italian and Journalism at DePaul University here in Chicago, Eden Laurin began moonlighting as a bartender, and fell in love with it.  After graduating, she headed to Guatemala to volunteer, starting a school for children. She returned to Chicago and continued her non-profit work, but stayed close to the bar, hosting and serving at The Violet Hour, in Wicker Park. Her persistence paid off there, where she became one of their first female bartenders. In 2009, Laurin helped launch the bar program at their sister restaurant - Big Star - while still pulling shifts behind the stick across the street at The Violet Hour. Eventually promoted to General Manager there, she started SHE, a cocktail consulting company made up exclusively of ladies. In 2015, Laurin was part of the team that garnered a James Beard award for Outstanding Bar Program. In her current role as Managing Partner, she oversees both the bar as well as their off-site cocktail catering.