Before you ask, BORG, which is pronounced like the aliens from “Star Trek,” is an acronym for “blackout rage gal.” The drink that bears this name is a mixture of water, alcohol, sweet flavorings, and a hangover remedy, such as Liquid IV or Pedialyte.
The concoction has become increasingly popular on college campuses across the country, thanks at least in part to TikTok, where videos of students brandishing their mugs at parties and demonstrating how to make the drink have been widely shared.
by BORG made the news this month, when the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the City of Amherst issued a joint declaration regarding a “significant number of alcohol poisoning cases” that occurred during the Blarney Blowout, an annual off-campus event.
The statement noted that “many students were observed carrying gallon plastic containers, believed to be ‘BORG’,” and that “this binge drinking trend has been increasingly represented on TikTok and seen on college campuses across the country.
Bella Alonzo, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, posted a Borg video in January. Wearing a cowboy hat decorated with stars and Busch beer logos, Ms. Alonzo, 21, begins by pouring about half the contents of a gallon jug of water. She then adds plenty of vodka, a can of wild berry fizzy energy drink, and a powdered electrolyte. “So we don’t have midnight hangovers,” Alonzo says, before shaking the pitcher and taking a sip.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Alonzo said she was surprised by the sudden popularity of the BORGs on social media, having known them for years. The main draw is that they’re easy to drink, she said, for something with such a high alcohol content. “All you really taste is the water and the food coloring,” Ms. Alonzo said. “You don’t taste any of the liquor, which is the big part.”
“I see people, you know, decades older than me commenting on TikTok like, ‘Oh yeah, we used to do this to call it something else,’” he added. The drink is especially popular with “darties,” slang for one-day parties, she noted.
In December, Cate Keane, a senior at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, posted a video of her classmates showing off their BORGs at a party. the clip since then it has been viewed more than 500,000 times. Each pitcher is labeled with a play on words, such as “Justin BieBORG,” “BORGttega Veneta,” or “BORGan Donor.”
For some students, a funny name is just as important to a BORG as electrolytes. TO Tik Tok The request for name suggestions posted last month by Benjamin Giller, a sophomore at San Diego State University, has been viewed nearly a million times on the platform and received hundreds of comments.
Some students said they were drawn to the BORGs because of their supposed security benefits.
“It’s nice that you can put a cap on it instead of, like, if you’re at the bar and you have an open drink, someone can just, like, ‘roofie,’” said Ms Keane, 21. , referring to the so-called date rape drug Rohypnol.
Ms. Alonzo echoed that sentiment, noting that she liked how the BORGs allowed her to be in control and know exactly how much liquor was in her pitcher. On TikTok, a video highlighting how BORGs could be considered a damage prevention tactic has been viewed over three million times.
But not everyone agrees with the BORG.
The Amherst Fire Department reported 28 requests for ambulance transport during the Blarney explosion on March 4. Ed Blaguszewski, a spokesman for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, declined to comment on how many ambulance calls were requested in previous years, but said the number this year was higher than in the past. (In 2014, CBS News reported that police officers in riot gear were called in to handle what the school described as “unruly behavior” at the same event. More than 70 arrests were made.)
“I think it can really do a lot of damage”, Dr Sara Andrews, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said of the trend. “He’s promoting misconceptions about drinking.”
He acknowledged the importance of college students being aware of what’s in their drinks, but said he didn’t think BORGs were the answer to the problem.
“Just because you know what’s in it doesn’t mean you really understand the negative effects it could have,” said Dr. Andrews, whose areas of expertise include alcohol abuse. “Even if mixed with electrolytes, it doesn’t make up for the alcohol content. It doesn’t make up for the danger of alcohol.”
Still, some college students, like Gracelyn Jones, a 21-year-old University of Louisville junior, insisted otherwise. Or, at least, Ms. Jones thinks that BORGs are better than some alternative methods of drinking on college campuses.
“When I compare the BORGs to swallowing your ass,” he said, referring to alcohol enemas, “it doesn’t seem so bad.”
