According to https://www.poison.org/articles/what-is-a-borg , the term “borg” is an acronym for the phrase “black out rage gallon.” Borg consumption is a relatively new phenomenon among college students.
A typical recipe for a BORG is mentioned in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(drink):
| Type | Mixed drink |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | Half-gallon of water; Fifth of vodka; Flavored drink mix such as MiO, Kool-Aid, or Crystal Light Electrolyte mix such as Pedialyte or Liquid I.V. |
| Standard drinkware | Plastic gallon water jug |
This constitutes an extreme version of binge drinking because it is intended for one person at one sitting ( https://www.vice.com/en/article/borgs-are-the-latest-college-drinking-trend-and-the-first-major-study-is-pretty-grim/) . The individuals who engage in this type of drinking claim that borg use is associated with a decreased risk of drink spiking and spread of infectious diseases, since the borg is designed for single-person consumption and can be capped shut.
It should be noted that a fifth (750 ml) of liquor is equivalent to 17 standard drinks.
I think you can see that there is considerable risk with imbibing a concoction which has the equivalent of 17 standard drinks by looking at the Blood Alcohol Concentration Calculators for men and women:
A recent study by King et. al. (2026) suggests that this mode of drinking is not safe at all.
In this study, 103 participants were surveyed and assessed regarding past-year alcohol and binge drinking. They had a mean age of 20.4, 62% reported female sex at birth. Most (74%) identified their race as White, with 13% Asian, 4% Black/African American, 6% more than one race, 2% American Indian/Alaskan native, and 2% Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. They reported drinking on approximately 3.1 days per week and binge drinking on 62.8% of those days.
These participants reported the following consequences resulting from a typical BORG episode:
- Most reported getting buzzed or drunk (62/63, or 98%);
- One third (18/63, 29%) experienced a blackout;
- 17% (11/63) vomited;
- 59% (37/63) said or did something embarrassing.
Despite these consequences, more than two thirds (68%) indicated that they planned to use a BORG again within the next year, perhaps because of perceived advantages. BORG drinking helped facilitate conversation (76%), and provided more fun than a regular party (62%). The average number of drinks consumed on a BORG-drinking day was significantly higher than that reported on a typical non-BORG binge-drinking day (9.4 vs. 6.3 standard drinks).
Of course, the people who create these concoctions are also creative with the names they give it, as in the following example:
Reprinted with permission from Wikipedia,https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpongeBorg_SquarePants.jpg . This is a borg (“blackout rage gallon”) made of water, vodka, and red beverage mix powder in a gallon jug, labeled “SpongeBorg SquarePants”. The right side of the jug displays the message “Me Hoy Minoy”, a reference to the SpongeBob SquarePants episode “DoodleBob”. Another borg is pictured in the background. This image has been edited to remove the names of the borg’s creators. Image created by BanjoZebra.
Ok, Ok, I can’t resist adding this:
King, A.C.; Noone, S.M.; Atkinson, E.; Wellendorf, C.E.; Fridberg, D.J. (2026). Living Up to their Name: Blackout Rage Gallons (BORGs) Marked by High-Intensity Drinking and Alcohol Consequences in College Students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 87(5):930-938. doi:10.15288/jsad.25-00414.
