Each month, we set two daters up at a restaurant, give them free food and drinks, then wait for the magic to happen. This month's Blind Date, we set Katie and Aaron up for a special night at Ironton Distillery in Denver.

 

Meet The Daters

Aaron


Hometown: Silverthorne, CO
Age: 26
Current job: Lighting Designer at Temple Nightclub.  It’s actually cool to like Temple now!
Zodiac sign: Virgo.
Favorite color:  I love all the colors.  Probably red. Maybe blue.
Pets: I have a dog and a cat. Nelly and Ella.  It’s after the famous rapper Nelly, of course.  Hot In Herre is a classic.  Changed my life when I first heard it.
First concert: Above and Beyond at Global Dance Fest, 2012 at Red Rocks. Amazing.
Most recent concert: Meduza at Temple.
Longest Relationship: 3.5 years. I don’t think of it much.
What’s your type: Smart, inquisitive, nature lover, art appreciator.
Deal breakers: None off the top of my head. I’m pretty open.  I have an open mind.
My friends would describe me as: You’d have to ask them! Probably fun, crazy and wants to have a good time.
Guilty pleasure: K-pop. Bad reality TV like The Jersey Shore.
Celebrity crush:  Emma Watson. Not too creative, but it is what it is.

 

Katie


Hometown: Bethesda, MD
Age: 28
Current job: Spiritual healer and grant specialist.
Zodiac sign: Taurus.
Favorite color: Blue, like teal or tropical blue.
Pets: A dog named Luna. She was my Peace Corps pet!
First concert: NSYNC
Most recent concert: The Motet at Red Rocks.
Longest relationship: 1 year.
What’s your type: A hippie that has their shit together. Grounded, earthy, open minded, extraverted and a little crazy.
Deal breakers: None that I can think of off the top of my head.  I’ve dated people with kids, I’ve dated people with not a lot going for them. Not a whole lot of dealbreakers.
My friends would describe me as: Reliable, spiritual, grounded, open, eccentric – I think I describe myself as eccentric but I don’t know if they will.
Guilty pleasure: When I had my dating profile, I said making it to Friday alcohol free and in bed by 9pm.
Celebrity crush: I literally thought of TroyBoi immediately. He’s so hot!  That’s because we were just talking about TroyBoi. And Clozee.

Round 1

We're back, baby! After a year-and-half off, the CDC has finally cleared Rooster to hook total strangers up over a lovely meal and ply them with booze. As we watched this month's daters take their seats, it was hard not to sigh with relief. 

Describe your dating life in three words:
A: Barren, empty, non-existent.
K: Piece of shit.

Have you ever been on a blind date before?
A: No. I’ve never had the opportunity. I jumped at the chance.
K: Not this blind, no. This is very blind. My sister said you don’t even know his name or a have a photo of him! I said no, its more fun that way. I don’t need to know. How often are you completely … you know.  

How has COVID affected your dating life?
A: It didn’t help!
K: I feel like not much, maybe only by meeting people more naturally. Like at parties or social outings.  

Where do you usually meet potential partners?
A: Either at the club, or the library. It’s hard at the library. It’s really quiet at the library and really loud in the club.
K: Hinge. I really don’t meet any potential partners. At this point, I’m just head down, grind, do what you can control and let the rest come. This came to me today and I was like okay! I’ve deleted and redownloaded that dating app like 10 times in the last week.  

What’s your pickup strategy?
A: I don’t have a pickup strategy. I try to get to know the person, respectfully. I just try to be nice and polite. If I’m in the library, I go for the girls that are into the same books.
K: Be a good flirt. Chat with them. I’m a pretty friendly person. It’s easy to strike up a conversation and flirt a little bit. I don’t have any pickup lines or anything.  

What’s the weirdest thing a first date has ever said to you?
A: I’ve had weird dates, but I can’t remember what they said to me. I guess the weirdest thing that anyone’s ever said was, “Let’s go meet my grandma.” The grandma was cool.
K: This guy, a DJ I went on a date with, one of his fans had made him a knife made out of a human bone. I didn’t know about that. We met on Hinge.


Round 2

Aaron might be out of his element outside the library, but so far things seem to be going well. At least Katie hasn't tried to introduce him to her grandma yet. And he's keeping his human bone cutlery to himself…   

How’s it going overall?
A: It’s going well. She’s very interesting, she seems very nuanced, very woke. Which is good, because I’m woke myself.
K: It’s good! We’re having fun, I think alcohol makes it easier.  

Did you like the shot?
A: Yeah, the one with the mango? It was great! I didn’t know how to eat the mango. It was very embarrassing. The waiter confronted me about the leftover mango. Like what the fuck you don’t like mangos?
K: I did yes. It was good and easy to drink.  

What’s something interesting or unique about themselves that your date has shared with you?
A: She’s into yoga, mindfulness and self-introspectiveness in yoga. Which really related with me because I’m into mediation and mindfulness and hypnotherapy. And then it turns out, she’s a hypnotherapist. I’d go under hypnosis with her.
K: I think it’s kind of interesting that he was raised vegetarian / pescatarian. His dad worked as a vet and had to work in slaughter house as a vet thing and now he’s still a vegetarian. I’m plant based, so it works out. I’m pretty much vegan, but I eat pizza and nachos once in awhile. Can’t give those up!  

Would you rather give up cheese or head for the rest of your life?
A: It’s very hard, because I love cheese but the answer is clearly that the cheese has got to go. I can get cheese at the super market but uh … I don’t want to go there!
K: Cheese. I could eat vegan cheese but I can’t get vegan head!  

On a scale of 0-5 how is the chemistry?
A: This is hard because I’m bad at reading women. I would say, realistically, 3.5, but hopefully 4. I can’t read minds, so I’m not sure.
K: Maybe a 3.  

Do you have any major similarities or differences?
A: So far, just cool similarities. Like with the whole yoga thing and she’s sober curious, which I think is awesome. I wish I was sober curious. I kind of am. I’m getting there so I like that she is. What she’s talking about with how she’s looking at life and her four rules. More similarities than differences. I don’t think I’ve noticed any big differences yet.
K: Similarities would be our take towards meat and dietary preferences. Our music tastes are similar enough, which is great. Our preference towards living sober curious, plant based, psylocibin and cannabis based living. Booze less and plants more. Natural things.  

How was dinner? What did you get?
A: I got a pizza and it fell in my lap. It happened. I’m a messy eater and the cheese was falling off and it was very embarrassing. But it was very good otherwise.
K: It's good! We got a charcuterie board and a pizza and they were both really good. And the drinks were all good too.  

Is Ironton Distillery a good spot for a date?
A: Yeah, it seems wonderful. Great ambiance and aesthetic. Sponsor me Ironton!
K: Yeah, I would say so. It's quiet, intimate, nice lighting, good food. On Monday’s I guess they have happy hour until they close or something. 
 

Round 3

Do you smell that? We can't tell if it's granola or sparks flying — but there's definitely something happening here. Our daters are bonding over yoga, diets, meditation, mindfulness, a commmon preferance for cunnilingus versus cheese. What more is there to enjoy together? Feeling confident we'd hit a home run, we wrapped up and left the daters to their evening.

What happened after Rooster left?

A: We finished our drinks and went to Luster Pearl for another round and kept chatting.

K: We finished up, we went to Luster Pearl. We hung out for another drink (I think I only had half) and then left.

 

Did Rooster find a match?

A: I would say that I was surprised. It was much more on point than I expected. Who’s your matchmaker?

K: I don’t think so. I think I’m going to stay friends with him if he wants to be, but I wasn’t immediately connected.

 

Was there a goodbye kiss?

A: No. I didn’t try. The whole magazine thing, I had to keep it a bit casual on the first date.

K: No goodbye kiss. He did not try.

How about a second date?
A: Yeah, totally. I’d take her to Cherry Creek Reservoir or a park. Somewhere out in nature.
K: Maybe, but I don’t really envision him being my person.

Overall, how was it?
A: It was super fun. I had a great conversation. No complaints!
K: It was good. It was fun. I would do it again. I really enjoyed myself.

Do you have any advice for future Blind Daters?
A: I’m not the guy to ask! I’m brand new to blind dates myself.
K: Just going in with an open mind with the intention to have fun and enjoy themselves and not have any expectations and they’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Do you have any regrets from last night?
A: Probably telling her how much my mother was disappointed in me.
K: No. Maybe just eating a whole pizza in 24 hours.

What’s next in your dating life?
A: Who knows. Not me.
K: Nothing. I don’t think I’ll go back to Hinge for the moment. It’s tiring and frustrating and I’m picky. I’d just like for a previous connection, or a friend of a friend or something. It sounds easier.

Is there anything you want to end with?
A: I did think of a song to describe her! Steely Dan – Josie.
K: Date was fun, it uplifted my spirits. And I guess I will plug my podcast – La Lokah Motive – it’s a great resource for people to be connected.

 

Conclusion

Drats! Foiled again. And everything seemed to be lining up like the planets for these two free spirts. Oh well. At least they made a friend to exchange vegan recipes with and a possible meditation partner. So it's not a total loss. ­It's just not the fourth of July firework extravaganza we were all hoping for. Next month.