Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Carrie Cox said she chose the local name Big Lick out of a desire to invite anyone in the area to join.

Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Mandy Philips, a student at Roanoke College, talks with the members of Big Lick Green Drinks at All Sports Cafe in Salem. The area chapter of the environmental group is one of 355 chapters around the world.

Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Lisa Garst, a candidate for the Salem City Council, guest speaks at a Big Lick Green Drinks meeting in Salem. The group's founder said there was just one other Green Drinks group in Virginia before hers.

The premise is simple: Meet for some beverages and have a chat.

But there's more to the region's first chapter of Green Drinks International than that.

Big Lick Green Drinks, based in Salem and founded in June, meets at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at All Sports Cafe on Main Street.

The group's Web site describes its gatherings this way: "'Greenies' across the Roanoke Valley getting together for socializing, a bite to eat &, of course, cocktails!!! (you don't have to drink alcohol, just a plus for those of us who do!) ... Sometimes we focus on a particular topic, other times just whatever is on our minds."

Stay-at-home mom and Salem native Carrie Cox started the group. She was searching for Earth Day activities and found the Web site of the international group, which advocates environmental consciousness. Her interest piqued, Cox searched for area chapters.

She said Virginia's only group was in Richmond.

So she started her own chapter. The Salem-based group is one of Green Drinks' 355 local organizations around the world. Green Drinks was founded in 1989 at a pub in London.

Cox said she chose the local name Big Lick -- what the Roanoke Valley used to be called more than a hundred years ago -- out of a desire to invite anyone in the area to join.

"In the '50s and '60s, they had bridge clubs and garden parties, but we don't do that anymore," Cox said. "In Europe and other countries, they go to a pub. Not that alcohol is a prerequisite by any means, but it's just that there's nothing wrong with that."

But there can be some issues with how to advertise for members of a "green" group. Cox said she was conflicted about using paper to advertise, but she did post a few fliers around Salem and Roanoke, created a Yahoo listserv for the group as well as a MySpace page. The resulting number of people attending their meetings has ranged from four to, most recently, 22.

Cox said the social draw of the event -- to be around people with similar interests -- accentuates the interest in environmental issues.

The Salem group isn't limited to adults, Cox said, and some parents have brought their children along.

And though the group is still in its infancy, Cox has arranged guest speakers for the past few meetings including Gregg Lewis, a co-owner of Smith-Lewis Architecture, a firm that promotes green building and is working on the Salem Museum expansion. Other guest speakers have included Lisa Garst, a city council candidate, and Mandy Phelps, a Roanoke College student who started a green events promotion group.

"The success of Big Lick Green Drinks means that being green is now a vital part of our consciousness in the Roanoke Valley," Cynthia Munley, a Salem resident, said in an e-mail. "Voters will be looking for leaders who respond in their platforms and policies to this new awareness."

In Salem, that conversation has included a variety of things such as all-natural laundry detergent and concerns about Norfolk Southern Corp.'s proposed intermodal rail yard.

Most recently, the group hosted a victory party after The Roanoke Times reported that NS ruled Salem out as a site for its intermodal rail yard.

At the group's February meeting, Heart's "Crazy on You" and Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" wafted in and out of Lewis' discussion of the green technology that will be used in the Salem Museum expansion. Sometimes, the music drowned him out.

Cox shared that her family owned the Williams-Brown House before giving it the museum, and she was happy about the proposed changes.

"It's really impressive," group member Mark McClain said. "When they talked about expanding it, I had no idea."

Scott Craig said he checked the meeting out because his girlfriend is in the Sierra Club.

"It's OK," Cox told him. "My husband only comes along because of the beer thing, too."