Neon Tommy photo illustration of Starbucks Beer

In the next few weeks, the drug peddlers from Seattle will begin rolling out wine and beer service at select locations in Southern California.

According to the LA Times, they've already been pushing alcohol at Starbucks in Seattle and Portland since 2010 where no doubt locals have been enjoying the $4 beers and $9 wines with ironic distance.

Actually, if those store are an indication, Starbucks could be offering some not embarrassing choices, including an Argentinian Malbec, Italian Prosecco, and some microbrew beers.

The move is part of a rebranding effort for the coffee company, which has tried things like fresh juices and food stuffs as a way to reviving the flagging giant. In 2008, the company shuttered hundreds of locations and many feared their age of transcendent growth was long behind them.

The upgrade from barristers to bar tenders brings, as many commentators have pointed out, a European aesthetic to the coffee scene. It's similar to a Parisian brasserie or Italian caffe where patrons can get coffee in the morning, wine in the evening, and no doubt enjoy their open marriages by night.

No word yet on whether Starbucks will also sell boxed wine carriers for morning meetings.

Reach Tom Dotan here