They are about to pass-borg.
This St. Patrick’s Day, danger-hungry Gen Z revelers will be gulping down gallons of a curious cocktail that recently sent dozens of their peers to the hospital.
Only this time it will be green.
“Do BORG with me – we’re doing green because it’s Saint Patty’s Day,” party girl Rachel Burney, 22, enthused in a recent TikTok tutorial.
The fun-loving blonde is just one of 99.8 million foodies who are using the viral hashtag #BORG – a buzzy acronym for “blackout rage gallons” – to show off their buzzy concoctions, which are usually made up of half a gallon of water to help with hydration, a generous drop of vodka, a shot of caffeine and a powdered electrolyte.
The alcoholic mix, which has been touted as a “hangover-free” drink online since its digital debut in 2020, rocketed to social media fame in early February.
It has been suggested that the popularity of the powerful potion can be partly attributed to distance drinking during the pandemic, as well as a curb on drinking spikes at parties, with everyone drinking from their own jug.
This month, as a festive touch in honor of Ireland’s patron saint, Burney and others are advising followers to add several drops of Mio’s ‘Green Thunder’ – a caffeinated flavor enhancer that has the taste of green apple and also includes vitamin B – to provide a vibrant touch of seasonal spice.
Some of the home mixologists advocate topping out the mix with a few dashes of green food coloring, to amp up the glow factor.
“My borg’s name is ‘Borg leaf clover,'” student Haley Myruski said with a smile as she proudly displayed her green gallon on TikTok – where giving the mix an eerily punny nickname before consumption has become a unspoken rule of thumb, no matter the time of year.
“My borg’s name is ‘Shenanigans and Sham-Borgs,'” a brunette touting her own green canteen said in a separate St. Paddy’s daytime post.
Most borg recipes call for one-fifth alcohol, which equates to about 16 drinks (the CDC defines binge drinking as drinking five or more alcoholic beverages).
But many Gen Z partygoers online often pour their vodka liberally, or, as Burney’s girlfriend puts it in her video, “enough to die for.”
On March 4, twenty-eight ambulances and a swarm of additional emergency vehicles were called to transport a “significant number” of students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to hospital for alcohol poisoning.
The revelers were said to be gurgling borgs as part of the school’s annual “Blarney Blowout” St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
None of the alcohol poisoning cases were life-threatening, UMass police said in a news release. Two people were arrested for underage drinking.
On Wednesday, ahead of the upcoming holiday weekend, Boston University issued a notice discouraging students from gorging on borg.
“Many recipes call for 17 doses of alcohol. Even if consumed for many hours, it is enough to cause an emergency,” the bulletin from the school’s health services department reads.
And to students considering making a Borg despite the risks, the memo urges, “Use less alcohol than the recipe calls for: measure out one shot per hour you plan to drink.”
“Check in with yourself and your friends,” the warning concludes. “Be aware of how you feel, take breaks, and don’t leave your drink unattended to reduce the risk of an alcohol spike.”