privately held industry beverages founded 2004 2004 headquarters new york new york products sake and spirits slogan drink extraordinary website trytyku.com ty ku ta ku is an american alcoholic beverage company that specializes in sake and other spirits . the privately held company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in new york city new york . while based in new york ty ku s beverages are made in japan through a joint venture with two sake breweries . 1 since 2011 ty ku s growth has extended its products into all 50 states . contents 1 history 2 products 3 awards 4 celebrity partnerships 5 references history edit while working on a graduate school project together at the school of international and public affairs columbia university in 2003 co founders kirk spahn and trenton ulicny were inspired as athletes to create a health conscious drink that would allow them to indulge while still maintaining their bodies . with the encouragement of their professor the two marketed their idea and the company was then founded in 2004 . the inspiration to target asian wines and spirits came when spahn as a history major at dartmouth college learned the importance of drinking traditions in asian culture as he sampled sake in china tibet and japan as part of a program with the new york museum of natural history . with that the two bootstrapped it at the start and spent 4 years flying back and forth to asia for research . since its inception the company has made it a goal to educate american consumers on japanese sake and spirits using social media initiatives and a branded presence at popular youth driven events such as south by southwest . products edit ty ku s brands include sake silver sake black sake white coconut sake citrus liqueur and soju . the drinks are bottled in triangular packaging . ty ku launched their first product ty ku citrus liqueur on june 15 2007 in las vegas nevada . the liqueur packaged in a bottle that gives off a bright green glow was made from ingredients such as yuzu goji berries and mangosteen . name type description ty ku sake silver premium junmai polished 30 % ty ku sake black super premium junmai ginjo polished 40 % ty ku sake white ultra premium junmai daiginjo polished 50 % ty ku coconut sake premium nigori junmai nigori polished 30 % ty ku soju premium nigori ty ku soju 60 calories ty ku citrus liqueur premium nigori ty ku citrus 65 calories first product awards edit award product awarding body year double gold medal ty ku soju wswa tasting competition 2012 double gold medal ty ku sake white s.f. int l wine competition 2010 platinum medal ty ku sake silver world wine competition 2010 gold medal ty ky citrus liqueur l.a. int l spirits competition celebrity partnerships edit ty ku currently has a number of celebrity investors that the company has announced . in october 2010 the company announced perez hilton as investor and equity partner . in addition hilton took on the role of director of culture and trends . 2 ty ku also announced in march 2012 patti stanger as an owner and partner . stanger is also a part of ty ku s day to day business working to extend the brand s exposure . other investors include ne yo todd english brian vickers and dhani jones . 2 in april 2012 cee lo green became an owner and spokesperson for the brand . 3 references edit rise of sake a b perez hilton announces partnership with ty ku ty ku sake s warrior brand retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ty ku & oldid 609571562 categories sakehidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 may 2014 at 20 08 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view