What Is A Borg And Why It’s Taking Over College Campuses Nationwide
Borgs, or "blackout rage gallons" are gallon containers filled with half water, half vodka, flavoring, and electrolytes, and they are becoming increasingly popular at college parties, as well as being touted by harm reduction experts as a safer alternative to binge drinking.
Borgs are taking over college campuses across the country, and, no, they’re not alien invaders. Borgs, the abbreviation for “blackout rage gallons” are the drink of choice for college parties these days, and many experts in harm reduction, see borgs as a step forward to safely consuming alcohol, though they don’t condone underage or binge drinking generally. After going viral on TikTok, borgs have become a cultural phenomenon for college students, and many see them as a sign that this next generation may make better decisions about alcohol than those that came before.
Borgs, empty gallon jugs filled with half water, half vodka, a flavor enhancer, and powdered electrolytes, lets students customize their drinks both to their preferences and their tolerances. For those who want to be blackout drunk, the borg allows them to do that more safely—with a limited amount of alcohol and a healthy dose of water and electrolytes to keep them hydrated, the borg is a huge improvement on the “jungle juice” bathtubs and trash cans of millennial culture. For those who don’t want to be completely out of it, it allows them to alter the amount of alcohol to what they feel comfortable with, not to mention that it’s easy to stay sober incognito with a gallon filled with flavored water, detracting from the peer pressure of drinking at a party.
Borgs also prevent the spread of illness, as people drink only from their personal gallon jug, rather than a communal punch bowl, a fitting innovation for a generation that came of age during a pandemic. Even better, they can help protect people from sexual assault, as its much more difficult to roofie a drink or get someone drunk when they are drinking from personal, closed-cap gallons—which most people always keep with them. What started as a silly TikTok trend might end up being the best thing that’s happened to college parties, which have a well-earned reputation for being dangerous, thanks to the level of alcohol usually consumed.
According to NBC News, borgs have become a fun pre-gaming event for students, who craft their beverages before heading to a party or right at the beginning. People share recipes on TikTok and create themed ones for events. The cherry on top of the borg customization process is naming it, which involves coming up with a clever, borg-related name and labeling your drink with it; examples of Borg names include “Borger King,” “Internal Borgans,” “Pittsborg,” “Brown v. the Borg of Education,” and even “Soulja Borg.”
Harm reduction advocates, though they don’t approve of drinking, do approve of borgs if you’re going to drink, and always advocate for safe drinking practices, like not sharing drinks and rising home with a safe, designated driver or using a rideshare app. They are the newest iteration of a culture of young people that just don’t seem as interested in alcohol as previous generations, as evidenced by borgs, yes, but also by the rise of things like mocktails instead of cocktails, with record numbers of young people choosing sobriety. If it helps keep people safe when drinking, long live the borg!
