The Birth of Sak? official trailer from erik shirai on Vimeo.

Painter-turned-director/cinematographer Erik Shirai went behind the glass in his new documentary, The Birth of Sak?, which chronicles the labor, skill and intuition required to make the finest Japanese sak?. A former cameraman on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, Shirai has won numerous festival prizes with his film, including the John Schlesinger Award for best debut documentary at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival. The jurors lauded Shirai's commitment to aesthetics, which mirrored the care the master brewer and his crew take in making Japan's national beverage via old-school methods.

Shirai embedded himself into the family-owned Tedorigawa Yoshida sak? brewery (founded in 1870) in Northwest Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture over the course of three wintertime sak?-making sessions. Like the brewery's workers, he lived communally in a dormitory while chronicling the process, which lasts six months. Although sak? is often referred to as rice wine, it's brewed like beer. The cooked rice mash undergoes fermentation and is eventually pressed; the alcoholic liquid extract is sak?. Most modern breweries rely primarily on heavy machinery, but the Yoshida brewery adheres to labor-intensive traditional methods such as sprinkling yeast (koji, used to jump-start fermentation) and kneading it into the rice, all by hand. With anything in the farm-to-table movement, it's good to know about the people who make the product, Shirai?says. This film will help people see a face in this beverage. Until now, The Birth of Sak?'s subjects have been invisible to the public. The documentary dotes on the brewery's seasoned toji (master brewer) who has made sak? for more than 50 years, and Yoshida's sixth-generation, 27-year old owner, Yasuyuki Yoshida, who is immersed in sales calls in the off-season. Shirai effectively captures these artisans and their daily routine, giving audiences (and sak? drinkers) an exquisitely filmed insight into the many steps required to produce the beverage. From the snowy exterior to the steaming rice in massive room-sized vats, Shirai details the steps as interstitial title cards fill in the background on sak? making.

One insight: The brewery team drinks a lot of fine sak? and beer. Also, Shirai came away with a newfound knowledge. There are two basic things every drinker should know: It's pronounced sak? [like caf?], not sak-i, and generally speaking drinking it cold is the way to taste the sak? (and usually the high premium sak?), whereas the warm stuff is usually bottom of barrel, he discovered.

His introduction to artisan sak??making was serendipitous: As a Japanese-American, he had long wanted to make a film about Japanese culture and crafts from an insider's perspective. He met Yoshida at a fundraiser and was invited to the brewery. Once Shirai visited and saw the almost 150-year-old brewery steeped in tradition, he knew he'd found his subject. A Kickstarter campaign and more than two years later, the film is making the festival circuit and is available on iTunes.

As with Jiro Dreams of Sushi, viewers will have an urge after seeing the film to head to the nearest izakaya or sushi bar. In Los Angeles, Sushi Go-55, Mori Sushi and n/naka often carry the Tedorigawa daiginjo made by the Yoshida brewery. Timothy Sullivan of Urbansake.com describes it as so light on the palate that it tastes like ?drinking clouds made of sak?. Insight into the traditional beverage-making process will add a new layer to any future sak? drinking. ??