By: Patrick Hall
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The term borg means “blackout rage gallon” and has become a popular drink around college campuses in the U.S.
Spring break will take place for the University of Arkansas on March 20-24th, which means there will be plenty of travel for students and coming with that will be the involvement of alcohol.
A BORG is an alcoholic drink created in a gallon water jug. It is made with half water, half vodka, and then a caffeinated flavor enhancer or some type of electrolytes to give the drink a better taste.
The drink has become a nationwide phenomenon in the last few years and continues to gain traction each year around spring break. University of Arkansas student, Katie Honey said that “It’s Borg day, everyone knows about, it’s a tradition for spring break everyone names there borg and has a good time.” The hashtag #borg has accumulated over 80 million views on TikTok since 2020 and is continually growing.
Students have hopped on this trend not only because of the simplicity of making the drink but also because of the price. Tyler Thompson, a U of A student planning his spring break trip to Santa Rosa Beach, FL adds, ‘it’s easy and cheap
way to consume alcohol and have a good time.”
He also adds that it has become a popular drink of choice because of the access to it at any time. He said, “You’re able to drink it all day rather than having to drink a bunch of seltzers and beers.”
It is not all cheap and harmless fun though when consuming a borg. What students may not realize with the consumption of a borg are the risks involved with drinking that much alcohol.
As students are mixing up there borgs for spring break they can add any amount of alcohol to the container but videos on social media show students adding up to a fifth of vodka. A fifth of alcohol is approximately 25 fluid ounces of liquor, a standard drink that could be ordered a bar contains 1.5 fluid ounces.
Manager of local bar West End, Simon Stemmler explains how this is a scary problem for students and they don’t even realize it and said, “The biggest danger is the sheer amount of alcohol you consume, a lot of borgs are half water and the rest is vodka, so most kids will put a fifth in there which comes out to 18 shots of liquor” He adds that most normal bars including the one he works at will put no more than 1 shot of alcohol in a standard drink.
When students are mixing their borgs they generally add an entire squeezable flavor enhancer such as MiO to drain the taste of the alcohol, U of A student Katie Honey said, “I sometimes even add two full MiOs to make sure I don’t taste the alcohol. This makes it very easy for students to consume the drink much faster and become intoxicated more quickly. Stemmler also said that “It is very easy to get carried away and put yourself in a harmful situation without even recognizing the situation that you are in.”
Although borg drinkers are able to have complete control over what they are drinking and able to pace themselves this could become a very dangerous drink if it consumed in one day.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 44% of college girls and 75% percent of college guys get drunk on a daily basis while on spring break. This can lead to binge drinking and an excessive use of alcohol during that time. The CDC defines binge drinking as consuming 5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more drinks for women on any occasion. A result of binge drinking can lead to serious injuries, diseases, or even an alcohol disorder.
According to the CDC, consuming an entire borg on one occasion or even throughout the entirety of one day is considered excessive binge drinking for anyone.