College Viral ‘Safe Drinking’ Hack Is Doing the Opposite

College students building the viral “blackout rage gallon” drink consumed roughly 9 to 10 standard alcoholic drinks per session, more than they typically drank on a regular binge night, according to a new University of Chicago study. Nearly one in three of these students blacked out, 17% vomited, and 59% said or did something embarrassing, undercutting the drink’s reputation as a smarter, safer way to party.

A “BORG,” short for blackout rage gallon, is a personal jug of vodka, flavored mix, electrolytes, and water that students say helps them control their alcohol intake, avoid spiked drinks, and dodge hangovers. Researchers surveyed 103 heavy-drinking college students for the study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, comparing those who had made a BORG in the past year to those who hadn’t, and found the opposite of what the trend promises. Instead of drinking less, BORG users drank more. Instead of protecting their drinks, almost everyone shared their jug or drank from someone else’s.

None of it seemed to change anyone’s mind. Two-thirds of BORG users said they planned to make another one within the year, even after describing blackouts, vomiting, and embarrassing moments from their last one. As the study’s authors put it, the drink is “living up to its name.”

How Scientists Tested Claims About the BORG Drinking Trend

Researchers recruited college students from public and private schools across the country between July and October 2024, reaching out through social media ads, word of mouth, and campus groups such as fraternities and sororities. To qualify, applicants had to be 18 to 25, have attended a U.S. college in the past year, and report weekly binge drinking. Ads never mentioned BORGs by name, so people weren’t signing up just because they were fans of the trend.

Because the researchers wanted a detailed picture of BORG use rather than just how common it is, they made sure to sign up enough participants who had actually tried one. That left a final group of 63 students who had used a BORG in the past year and 40 who said they never had. Participants filled out an online survey covering their drinking habits, alcohol-related problems, and specific questions about how they build a BORG, why they use it, and what happens afterward. Researchers added screening questions and checks for suspicious sign-ups to weed out fake or careless responses, a growing headache for anyone running surveys online these days.

Participants averaged just over 20 years old, and about 62% were female. Most were white, with smaller numbers identifying as Asian, Black, or another race. A standard alcohol screening test showed the group’s overall drinking already fell into risky territory, even before anyone factored in BORGs specifically.

What’s Actually in a BORG, and What It Does to the Body

A typical BORG, according to the students who build them, contains vodka, some kind of flavoring like juice or an energy drink mix, and water, all combined in a one-gallon jug. That works out to about 10 standard drinks per jug. Students reported drinking around 70% of their own jug, then often adding a few more drinks on top of that during the same event. Add it up, and a typical BORG occasion landed between 9 and 10 standard drinks, a heavier pace of drinking than an ordinary night of binge drinking.

For comparison, the same students reported drinking about 6 drinks on a regular binge-drinking night that didn’t involve a BORG. That gap matters, because drinking at this level is associated with more severe consequences than a standard heavy night out, including injury, vomiting, and blacking out.

Consequences showed up fast in the data. Ninety-eight percent of BORG users said they got buzzed or drunk. Twenty-nine percent blacked out. Seventeen percent vomited. Fifty-nine percent said or did something embarrassing. Despite all that, about two-thirds said they planned to make another BORG within the next year. Students in fraternities or sororities were far more likely to be BORG users, and BORG drinkers tended to learn about the trend earlier, around age 17 or 18, before most of them had even started college.

When asked why they personally used a BORG, the top answers had nothing to do with safety. Roughly a third said the prep work itself, picking flavors and decorating the jug, was fun. Another 30% admitted they wanted to get buzzed or drunk. A quarter said it helped them fit into their school’s drinking culture. Not a single BORG user pointed to limiting alcohol or avoiding a hangover as their main personal reason, even though those are the exact selling points in viral videos about the trend.

Students who skipped BORGs told a different story. Their most common reason was that it simply wasn’t part of their school’s drinking scene, followed closely by the belief that it doesn’t actually help anyone drink less. Interestingly, both groups agreed on why they thought other people used BORGs: mostly to get buzzed or drunk and to fit in, which lines up a lot closer to reality than the safety-focused marketing around the trend.

The Takeaway on the BORG Drinking Trend

BORGs were sold on social media as a smarter, safer way to drink, and that pitch worked well enough to spread across campuses and rack up hundreds of millions of views online. Once researchers measured what students actually drank, the safety pitch fell apart. Students using BORGs drank more than they normally would, shared their supposedly personal and protected jugs constantly, and blacked out and vomited at rates that should worry anyone working on college drinking prevention. A drink named after blacking out and raging appears to be doing exactly that, yet many of the students reporting these consequences still planned to use one again.

Disclaimer: This article summarizes findings from a peer-reviewed study for a general audience and is intended for informational purposes only. It is not medical or health advice. The research is based on a self-reported survey of 103 college students and, as the authors note, its modest sample size means the findings may not apply to all college drinkers. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol use, contact the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7).