清酒，是日本人引以為傲的酒。長期跟隨美食旅遊達人Anthony Bourdain的日籍美食節目製作人Erik Shirai，從Kickstarter集資籌拍「手取川清酒」的誕生，走到產地石川縣了解清酒釀造的過程和藏人(釀酒人)密集式的工作，用影像捕捉到不易為人知、罕見的珍貴畫面。在夏天離鄉親手下田種米、收割選米、蒸米鋪 飯、搓揉米糰，到生酛酒母、確認酒糟品質、過濾降溫、酒糟保 溫等等，儘管工序繁多且非常辛苦，藏人絕不妥協。手取川清酒滿足食客的胃和心，杯杯不止載著清酒家族代代傳承的力量，日本人執著於傳統釀酒和清酒品味的堅持，更叫人佩服。

The art of sake is captured and preserved by director Erik Shirai in the elegiac and richly observed documentary The Birth of Sake. Funded via Kickstarter and now finding audiences worldwide, Shirai’s documentary follows the workers at the Tedorigawa Brewery as they leave their family and friends to dedicate themselves to a season of sake perfection. For six months, under the watchful eye of brewmaster Yamamoto Toji, the men toil assiduously at a painstaking handcrafted process that has slowly disappeared as breweries turn to machine-made solutions. Meanwhile, Tedorigawa’s heir Yoshida Yasuyuki meets potential buyers, touting Tedorigawa’s pursuit of quality while confronting the changing tastes of younger Japanese, for whom sake has lost favor.