What are BORGs? The college drinking trend taking over TikTok
Students decorate these alcohol-filled jugs with names like “BORG to be wild” and “Teach me how to Borgie.”
A BORG, short for “blackout rage gallon,” typically consists of a 1-gallon plastic water jug filled with a mixture of hard alcohol, water and flavor enhancement. It’s a drinking trend that has taken TikTok and colleges by storm in recent years, with controversial claims BORGs help reduce drink contamination and hangovers. But a new study, the first to examine BORG use and its consequences among college students, offers a look at the trend’s dangers.
Nearly one-third of BORG drinkers report blacking out, according to a study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, published by Rutgers University. Another 59% report embarrassing behavior and 17% reporting vomiting.
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“The thought is, ‘great, you control your own beverage, risk contamination, especially in a post-pandemic world, and nobody could alter your beverage,’” says lead researcher Andrea C. King, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “That’s not really what it is.”
The drinks, which are typically DIYed at home, can contain up to a fifth of liquor, or about 17 standard drinks, according to the study, which polled more than 100 participants from a range of private and public U.S. colleges and universities.
That amount of alcohol should be consumed over a week of time, if not longer, says Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health.
“I wouldn’t recommend drinking that amount of alcohol under any circumstances in the context of a party,” Koob says.
What is a BORG?
The drinks often reference popular internet phrases, pop culture moments or memes. A recent TikTok shows a pink, sparkling “Dolly Parton memorial BORG.” Others have names like “The GettysBORG Address” and “Hate being SoBORG.” The hashtag #borg has more than 31,200 posts on TikTok.
“Fill my BORG with me!” one TikToker announces at the start of a video of her filling a jug with neon-green liquid ahead of St. Patrick’s Day. Other videos on the platform show dozens of half-consumed confiscated BORGS lining St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and popular college block parties like Boston’s Marathon Monday and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mifflin party.
Seventy-six percent of BORG drinkers say the beverage helped facilitate conversation, and 62% say it led to more fun than a regular party.
“I’ll admit it, how fun that you get to do a clever statement that reflects who you are,” King says. “We have a population now that may socially not quite understand how to interact with each other the way maybe prior generations did because there is this online presence, and it may be a great … conversation starter.”
Why are BORGs so popular?
One of the earliest social media references to BORGs stems from a March 2020 TikTok. Social media has helped propel the popularity of these drinks on college campuses in the years since, according to King. Google search interest in “BORG” more than tripled in early 2023 and again during the summer of 2025.
In March of 2023, the Amherst fire department dispatched 28 ambulances in response to intoxicated drinking linked to BORGs at University of Massachusetts Amherst parties. Schools including West Virginia University, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, Stanford University and Boston University have put out notices about the trend on their campus.
When the drinks exploded in popularity in 2023, they drew mixed reactions from experts and internet commentators, with some pointing out that the BORG could reduce drink contamination and spread of sharing-based illness.
“We were drinking gin buckets and jungle juice out of plastic containers and trash cans in the basement of frat houses,” millennial content creator Erin Monroe, who is credentialed in substance use prevention in New York, posted in a TikTok about BORGS that garnered more than 1 million likes. “Whether or not they realize they are doing it, this is actually really solid harm reduction … they’re deciding what they’re drinking, they’re keeping it in a closed container and they’re bringing it with them everywhere.”
But King says this isn’t the case. The study found that 95% of participants share their BORGs with others, and King says any of the drink’s effects to minimize hangovers would be minimal. Plus, the combination of hard liquor with sweet flavoring from electrolytes, energy drinks or juice may make it easier for someone to consume a large amount of alcohol without realizing it.
What to know about safe alcohol consumption
Young adults’ executive functioning, abstract thinking and decision-making skills continue to develop through age 25, and the prefrontal cortex can be impacted by underage drinking, according to Koob.
“The frontal cortex is basically, I always say, it’s your super ego,” Koob says. “When your frontal cortex isn’t working well, and this is a hallmark of intoxication, you’re more likely to make rash decisions and impulsive-like activity actions.”
Four drinks for a woman and five drinks for a man, consumed over the span of about two hours, typically meets the criteria for binge drinking, according to the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Koob and King recommend having nonalcoholic beverages, like water and soda, on hand at college events as a safe form of hydration. For those of legal drinking age, limit yourself to one standard drink per hour, and alternate every alcohol beverage with a water or seltzer.
“Parents being aware is important,” King says. “Most people are finding out about these (BORGs) before they even go to college … on social media, and if the parents don’t understand that, then they can’t have that conversation.”
