A few local businesses are spotlighting Pacific Beach as a burgeoning craft-brew capital through monthly Pacific Beach Craft Crawls, a safe way to scope out some of the beach community’s local craft beer hubs. Bare Back Grill, Cali Kebab, Ciro’s Pizzeria & Beerhouse, TapRoom and the High Dive have partnered up to share a craft-pub crawl experience that highlights the best craft brews Pacific Beach has in store, as well as offer a free ride among the five establishments on the first Wednesday of each month. The event was modeled after North Park’s Drinkabout to promote an often-unseen aspect of PB’s bustling beach district. “The craft beer scene in PB is just as good as anywhere else in San Diego. We don’t get a lot of recognition for it in the craft-beer community,” said Ciro’s owner Kenny Casciato. “Plus, we have something that a lot of things that other neighborhoods don’t. We have the Pacific Ocean right there.” The Pacific Beach Craft Crawl started in November as the brainchild of Bare Back Grill’s bar manager Rory Farrell. The idea behind the concept is threefold: to promote Pacific Beach’s craft-beer scene, to thank local patrons who support the local merchants, and to encourage safe habits among their clientele. “We’re all part of the community. All the money we generate as a small business gets spent here,” Casciato said. “Of course, we want a little recognition as a craft-beer scene, but we also want to do something good for the people that keep us going.” He said although some patrons inevitably come to the beach bars to drink heavily, Casciato, Farrell and the rest of the craft-brew crew genuinely care about the wellbeing of their patrons and hope they can help take the danger out of having a good time. “We really want to show that we, as small business owners, care about the people who patronize our establishment. We want them to be safe when they’re drinking,” said Casciato. Each month, the five local business owners pitch in to rent two buses that loop among the five local venues every 15 minutes from 7 to 11 p.m. “At each venue we try to do something unique,” said Casciato. “If nothing else, we want to be there for the community to get around safely.” He said his local community is more multifaceted than it may appear on the surface. “It’s not just the five places on the Craft Crawl. We’ve got Turquoise Coffee doing some really cool things with their craft-beer lineup and The Coaster in Mission Beach,” he said. “PB has a lot of layers, and this is one of those layers that needs to have a spotlight on it.”