The Bavarian Inn's new specialty coffee maker, wine keeper and wine on keg machines are now in regular use at the Hunt Room bar. Photo by Tabitha Johnston.

SHEPHERDSTOWN — This summer, The Bavarian Inn has taken on several projects to update its dining experience.

On July 11, The Bavarian Inn started using its updated bar in the Hunt Room, which now features a stainless steel specialty coffee maker, a stainless steel, pressurized nitrogen wine-on-tap system and a stainless steel wine keeper.

According to Vice President David Asam, The Bavarian Inn selected the specialty coffee maker with the help of The Black Dog Coffee Company’s husband-and-wife owners Jennifer Maghan and Brian Bircher.

“We purchased the machine with them, and have already done two days of training, and plan on doing more training with them as well in the future,” David said, explaining the inn is gradually transitioning from using Colombian coffee to using Black Dog coffee.

Currently, the inn’s drip coffee is the only Colombian coffee still being sold in the inn.

David said the two new temperature-controlled stainless steel systems for wine will both benefit customers and the environment.

“We certainly do our best to be environmentally conscious, and these machines will cut down on our personal impact in a significant way,” David said, mentioning the systems will decrease the quantity of glass bottles emptied at the inn, by serving glasses of wine from large kegs.

Not only will these systems cut down on container waste, but they will also keep wine from going bad — once a wine bottle is opened, the wine has a life expectancy of four days, according to David.

“Now that they’re putting more quality wine in kegs, it’s a great decision to sell high-end wines on keg, by the glass. We want to change peoples’ perceptions of wine in kegs — these are good wines, but at a reasonable price point,” David said, mentioning the four white and four red wine varieties offered from the keg will be regularly rotated. Starting at $7.50 and up, the wine will be sold at reasonable price points for 5 ounce, 8 ounce and 1/2 liter size pours.

The Bavarian Inn’s President Christian Asam said he hopes customers will take advantage of the opportunity to taste a wider variety of wine at the inn, while staying within their budgets.

“People should not be intimidated by it. Be honest when you come into a restaurant. You don’t have to be a big spender to have a fun wine experience — you can really find something cool at any price point,” Christian said.

According to David, the inn’s final summer update, Bavarian Brothers Brewing, is set to open in early September.