The sun is preheating downtown Syracuse right now. By the time you get out of work today, the temperature outside will be approaching 90 degrees.

You deserve to cool down with a cold beer, and downtown offers plenty of spots for Happy Hour. But where can you find the coldest beer?

To find the answer to that question, I visited 30 bars with a calibrated thermometer. At each spot, I ordered at least one bottle or can of domestic beer and a beer on tap. I took the temperature immediately. I enlisted the help of people I met along the way.

Charlie Miller

So what's the ideal temperature?

Nick Offredi, the senior brewmaster at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville, says 37 degrees is the target for a basic beer like Bud Light.

"It's fast, refreshing, and it has a clean vibe on a hot day," he said. "The warmer it gets, you get different aromas, and the CO2 feel is different."

The folks at Sam Adams say their beers are best enjoyed at a temperature between 38 and 42 degrees.

So here are the results from our quest to find the coldest beer in downtown Syracuse, listed alphabetically.

Cheers!

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Charlie Miller

Al's Wine & Whiskey Lounge

321 S. Clinton Street

Can: 35.4 degrees. Dogfish Head Seaquench session sour ale pint. $8

Can: 35.4 degrees. Pabst Blue Ribbon pounder. $3.25

Draft: 38.5 degrees. Utica Club.

Al's has a decent beer menu, and they're nicely chilled. But what got me was the 1,800 different spirits on the shelves behind them. The whiskey and gin menus are stellar. But we were hear to sample the beer. You can sit at the bar, stand or relax at one of the soft leather sofas. All good, Al.

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Charlie Miller

Ale 'n' Angus Pub

238 Harrison Street

Bottle: 37.1 degrees. Bud Light. $4.25

Draft: 40.1 degrees. Samuel Adams Summer Ale in a chilled glass. $6

These beers were perfect on a warm Spring day. Look at the perfect foam head on that Sam Summer. What made them better was the Power Play Burger that we had with them. No wonder the New York State Beef Council voted this the best burger in the state.

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Apizza Regionale

260 West Genesee Street

Draft: 44.6 degrees. Brooklyn Pilsner pint. $6

Bottle: 40.7 degrees. Miller High Life. $4

This fancy pizza place on the western edge of downtown has a cozy bar off to the side. It was the perfect spot to chat up a few regulars on a warm Friday afternoon and sip a pint of Brooklyn. The bartender, believe it or not, said Miller High Life is among their more popular beers. I'll drink to that.

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The Blue Tusk

165 Walton Street

Bottle: Not available. Only draft.

Draft: 40.2 degrees. Miller Lite imperial pint. $5.50

Draft: 43.9 degrees. Middle Ages Recess Coffee Stout imperial pint. $7

I'm guessing Tusk has the longest happy hour in all of downtown. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, all beers are $1 off. That's a lot of hours to be happy.

The selection of beers seems endless. It's one of few places you can find Miller Lite on tap (Don't judge me!). But there's oh-so-much more. They've got every type of beer you could imagine. They also serve quality food. And on a day like today, you can take your cold beer outside. That's what we did.

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Charlie Miller

Clinton Street Pub

127 West Fayette Street

Bottle: 40.1 degrees. Miller Lite. $4

Draft: 41.5 degrees. Miller High Life pint. $2

CSP is a great spot for Happy Hour on a hot day. It's got plenty of space with different types of seating (booths, high-tops, regular tables and a long bar). On this particular day, the staff had 80s music playing on the sound system. If that's not good enough for patrons, a digital jukebox awaits. Try their jumbo pretzel. It's a great complement to your beer.

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Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

246 West Willow Street

Draft: 41.6 degrees. Sam Adams Summer Ale pint. $5.50

Bottle: 39.6 degrees. Miller Lite. $4

I'm not sure what's more inviting: the food menu or the beer menu boasting 21 beers on tap and 30-plus more in the bottle or can. On this particular Friday, I stuck with the old standby. Each bottle was consistently chilled. And the wings that I washed the beer down with were consistently yummy.

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Empire Brewing Company

320 Walton Street

Draft: 43.7 degrees. Skinny Atlas Light pint. $6

Draft: 38.1 degrees. Air Gait Lager pint. $6

Bottle: Not applicable

You can't get much more fresh than this. All the beer at Empire is brewed a few feet behind the taps. And these lines are nice and clean. In fact, they had cleaned the lines hours before we ordered. The air conditioning was just what we needed. Well, that and a nice cold beer.

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Charlie Miller

The Evergreen

125 East Water Street

Bottle: 42.5 degrees. Michelob Ultra. $4

Draft: 46.9 degrees. Carton Boat Beer (session) 14-ounce glass. $5

The Evergreen pours 20 craft beers from its taps. It also offers plenty of bottled brew. The kitchen offers plenty of apps and other happy hour munchies. The bartender asked what I normally drink. After realizing I enjoy Miller Lite, she suggested Carton Boat, a session beer. Not bad, considering this could be the start of a happy session.

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Fabio's Antica Cucina

344 South Warren Street

Draft: 38.4 degrees. Peroni 16-ounce frosted glass. $5

Bottle: 45.6 degrees. Stella Artois. $4

Fabio's has been open for about a year now. Located on the first floor of the Icon Tower building, this Italian restaurant boasts a wood-fired pizza oven near the bar and homemade pasta and bread. It also is home to Paco, a 25-pound fish that eats garlic. It's probably the most photographed fish in all of downtown. To keep in the spirit, I ordered a Peroni Italian lager. Pretty tasty, if you ask me. Suggestion: Get the toasted ravioli during your happy hour stop.

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Fish Friar

239 East Genesee Street

Can: 46.8 degrees. Industrial Arts Wrench 16-ounce can. $7.50

Draft: 39.5 degrees. Singlecut Keith SW4 London Ale 8-ounce chilled glass. $4.75

As we bellied up to the bar on a humid Wednesday afternoon, general manager Derek Spanfelner were greeted us with a big "Welcome to the party!" The Fish Friar is a quaint bistro that offers very fresh seafood from Maine and highly sought-after craft beer. No Utica Club or Miller Lite here, folks. No worries. They've got something for everyone, many that are hard to find anywhere else.

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Funk 'n Waffles

307 South Clinton Street

Draft: 36.5 degrees. Lagunitas IPA pint. $6

Bottle/Can: Not applicable

This place has live music almost all the time, and it offers one of the most unique menus in all of downtown. Where else can you pair that extremely cold beer with some chicken & waffles while soaking in tunes from a seven-piece folk rock band?

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Kitty Hoynes

301 West Fayette Street

Bottle: 33.4 degrees. Miller Lite. $4

Draft: 42.8 degrees. Brooklyn Pilsner 20-ounce imperial pint. $7

Not only does Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub and Restaurant keep its beer at the ideal temperature, it cleans the draught lines regularly. They had just been cleaned on the day of our visit. Talk about luck of the Irish. Mallory, the bartender working the day shift on this particular Wednesday, walked us through the new beers on tap this week. Kitty's, after all, rotates its beers regularly to keep us coming back for something new.

WINNER ALERT: Coldest bottled beer we measured for this "investigation"

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Lemon Grass

238 West Jefferson Street

Bottle: 44.0 degrees. Singh lager. $5.75

The Bistro Elephant inside the Lemon Grass restaurant is such a comfortable bar, especially on a hopping Saturday night that created long lines at all downtown restaurants. There was no wait to get a spot at the bar, and we were told getting a table wouldn't take too long either. I had to remind myself that I set out to test beer. But there is oh-so-much more here. Sage, the bartender, makes perhaps the best dry martini in all of downtown. Based on my tastes, she suggested I try the Singh lager from Thailand. Good call. It complemented the fresh calamari appetizer beautifully.

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Liehs & Steigerwald

117 East Fayette Street

Bottle: 37.1 degrees. Bud Light Orange.

Draft: 40.2 degrees. Brooklyn pilsner. $6

This pub/restaurant/butcher shop, located just on the outskirts of Armory Square, is a hidden gem. You can go in and grab a cold beer while placing your take-home steak order from the butcher shop. "Honey, I'm out shopping for dinner. I'll be home as soon as the butcher prepares our sausage. See you in a couple hours."

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Don Cazentre

The Limerick Pub

134 Walton Street

Bottle: 43.3 degrees. Miller Lite. $3.50

Draft: 51.3 degrees. Utica Club pint. $4

This long narrow bar in Armory Square has a couple pool tables, an electronic dart board and a solid jukebox. Why Utica Club? Why the heck not? But it's much better when served very cold.

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Charlie Miller

Maxwell's

122 East Genesee Street (Hanover Square)

Bottle: 38.6 degrees. Corona Light. $4

Draft: 42.1 degrees. Elysian IPA pint. $6

This Hanover Square tavern has two bars with plenty of seating and 22 quality beers on tap. They also have a few tables outside. We opted to stay inside with the air conditioning. Good thing, too: beer is $1 during happy hour.

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Mulrooney's

239 West Fayette Street

Can: 36.5 degrees. Miller Lite pounder. $3

Draft: 42.5 degrees. Air Gait Lax Lager pint. $4

Mully's attracts two very different crowds on any given day. After work, you'll find downtown business folk. As the sun sets, the clientele gets younger. That's not a bad thing. They're both fun. Erin, the bartender during a Wednesday happy hour, was quick to suggest a beer for those of us looking to try something other than Miller Lite. The Air Gait was a brilliant recommendation.

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Orbis Lounge

134 East Genesee Street

Draft: 39.1 degrees. Sam Adams Summer Ale in a chilled glass. $3

Bottle: 41.3 degrees. Michelob Ultra lime cactus. $4

This Hanover Square bar opened last winter in the spot previously held by World Lounge & Martini Bar. It has 20 beers on tap and plenty more in bottles. You can sit outside and people watch for a festive happy hour. More importantly, the beer prices go down even as the outside temperature goes up.

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Otro Cinco

206 South Warren Street

Can: 36.5 degrees. Brooklyn Summer Ale. $3

Draft: 40.9 degrees. Modelo Especial in a frosted pint. $4

Otro Cinco, the downtown sister to Alto Cinco, offers outdoor seating, but they have a nice space inside with plenty of seating at the bar or restaurant tables. Suggestion: get their homemade chips and salsa and guacamole. It's among the best (and cheap) bar treats downtown.

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Charlie Miller

Pastabilities

311 South Franklin Street

Bottle: 38.8 degrees. Corona. $5

Draft: 41.8 degrees. Mill House Brewing Kölsch. $7

Saturday night is the best time to hit up Pastabilities for dinner. Why? Because you're going to wait at the bar for about an hour before your table is ready. The bartenders are quick with a beer recommendation, and the temps fall within the ideal parameters. What's more, by the time you finally sit, you can load up on the fresh bread with hot spicy tomato oil. On this night, one of the guys pouring beers suggested Mill House's Kölsch. The Poughkeepsie brew hit the spot, but it filled me up too quickly.

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The Penny Pub

321 West Fayette Street

Can: 37.8 degrees. Miller Lite. $3

Draft: 45.5 degrees. Sam Adams Summer Ale

The Penny, the last bar on the west end of Armory Square, doesn't get crowded until after 9 p.m. on any given night. They don't have outdoor seating, but on this hot and humid day, it was nice to sit inside at the bar or on one of the sofas.

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The PressRoom Pub

220 Herald Place

Bottle: 42.5 degrees. Coor's Light. $4

Draft: 40.9 degrees. Brooklyn Lager pint. $5

New to the Syracuse bar scene, the PressRoom Pub offers one of the largest rooms for happy hour. It also has plenty of very large TVs and a 21-foot long shuffleboard table. They pour only beers made in New York. They serve 9-ounce burgers, pizza and other tasty bar food. I recommend the sweet potato wedges with your beer.

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Prime Steakhouse

101 East Water Street

Bottle: 41.3 degrees. Stella Artois. $5.50

Bottle: 42.1 degrees. Bud Light. $4.50

Draft: Not available

This is a classy place for happy hour. The bar in this Hanover Square restaurant is dimly lit with a pleasant ambience, perfect for winding down. Baskets of freshly handmade potato chips greet you at the bar. You just can't go wrong there.

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Saltine Warrior Sports Pub

214 West Water Street

Bottle: 40.3 degrees. Miller Lite. $4

Draft: 44.6 degrees. Bell's Two Hearted Ale pint. $6

This bar is on the outskirts of Armory Square, on the way out of downtown. Like many bars, it was quiet on a Wednesday afternoon. Amanda, our server for the day, says it picks up at night before their weekly trivia events.

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Charlie Miller

Shaughnessy's

550 South Warren Street

Bottle: 39.6 degrees. Miller Lite. $4.50

Draft: 33.4 degrees. Sam Adams Summer Ale frosted pint. $5

The bar was fairly crowded in the early afternoon, mostly with out-of-town bowlers competing at the OnCenter. They were a jolly group, all enjoying some of the coldest beer downtown Syracuse had to offer. Better yet, I put their beers on my tab.

WINNER ALERT: Coldest draft beer we measured for this "investigation"

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Charlie Miller

The Stoop Kitchen

311 West Fayette Street

Can: 39.7 degrees. Boddingtons Pub Ale pint. $7

Bottle: 43.2 degrees. Middle Ages' Swallow Wit. $5

Draft: Not available on this day.

We arrived right as the doors opened on a Wednesday. It was warm outside, too warm to sit out on the second-floor balcony. But the bar inside was nice and cool. The Stoop is a restaurant and a bakery, but the second floor is a welcoming bar that specializes in tequila. Shayla, the bartender, can tell you anything you want to know about their high-end spirits. Today, she recommended Corazon reposado de agave, a tequila aged in a bourbon barrel. Now THAT'S some good sippin'.

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Syracuse Suds Factory

320 South Clinton Street

Bottle: 42.3 degrees. Miller Lite. $3.75

Draft: 42.9 degrees. Bud Light pint. $4.25

This place is huge, and it's got a great view of Armory Square. They have a few tables for outside drinking/eating.

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Charlie Miller

Wild Will's

139 East Water Street

Can: 31.1 degrees. Pabst Blue Ribbon 16-ouncer. $3

Draft: 37.2 degrees. Genesee pint $2. Genesee 9-ouncer $1

Wild Will's is a quaint dimly lit bar next to Niko's Restaurant in Hanover Square. It has a few modestly sized TVs, but it has one of the best jukeboxes in town. Late on a Thursday night, we sat at one of the five outdoor tables and watched the nightlife.

The draft beer is served in a chilled (not frozen) glass. Honestly, the smaller glass is the way to go. It stays cold just long enough for you to finish the beer. Once you've downed that one, get another in a fresh glass. That's the best way to stretch your beer-drinking dollar.

WINNER ALERT: Coldest canned beer we measured for this "investigation"

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Charlie Miller

Wolff's Biergarten

106 Montgomery Street

Bottle: 57.7 degrees. St. Pauli Girl. $6

Draft: 42.2 degree. Spaten lager. 1 litre ($3 during happy hour)

This place features some of the best happy hour beer prices in the city. Every stein is half price between 5 and 7 p.m. So have a seat at one of the many long picnic tables, toss down some free shelled peanuts and raise a stein to cold beer.

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Charlie Miller

The York

247 West Fayette Street

Bottle: 35.9 degrees. Budweiser. $3.75

Bottle: 42.6 degrees. Stella Artois. $5

Draft: Not available

If you're looking for a classy happy hour with a twist, look no further. Not only do they have very cold Bud, they also serve fresh oysters right at the bar. If you're not into beer, they make a mean martini.

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Charlie Miller

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