The students of Brockport flooded King Street with water jugs filled to the brim with mysterious colored liquid. What are they holding? Borgs, a new take on day drinking. Hundreds of students participated in drinking a Borg, otherwise known as a “Black Out Rage Gallon.”
This new handheld drink came to the surface earlier this year as it has swept social media platforms and college campuses nationwide. Student Maddison Scott explains how Borgs were brought to her attention.
“This semester I remember seeing them all over social media. On TikTok, that’s where I first heard of them. Then I started seeing them on my friend’s stories that go to other schools. I remember seeing some from St. Bonaventure either this semester or last semester,” Scott said.
With Borgs being so popular, the preparation for Wednesday led to a lot of students on the hunt for a gallon of water.
“We had to go to five different places just to find a gallon of water, and every store we went to such as Wegmans, Big Lots, the dollar store and Walmart were sold out. When we were in the aisle, there were 10 other people in the aisle with us looking at the gallons of water and all the stuff to make the Borgs. It was pretty funny. I don’t think I saw one person without a Borg,” Scott said.
People have control of what goes into their personalized Borg. It mainly consists of half a gallon of water, alcohol of choice and a flavor mixer, such as MiO’s for example. It is personalized, and people have the ability to make it unique by naming their Borgs.
“It is definitely easier to have and that’s what makes it appealing, I also think the fact that it’s customizable. People put their own creative names or funny names on them. I think that is probably what helped it go viral originally is sharing all the different creative names and then people think, ‘Oh, that’s funny, I want to do something like that.’ I think it’s a mix between the funny aspects and creative part of it, but then also the easiness of it,” Scott said.
Many names were spotted on Borgs such as “SUNY Borgport,” “Borgen Eagles,” “Borg Eyed Peas,” “Soulja Borg” and many more.
“I named mine after my roommate. Her name is Morgan, so I named mine “Borgan.” I couldn’t really think of names, but I saw a lot of different creative and funny names. I also saw people that got really artistic with it. I think it’s fun for people to make it their own. It also helps you remember that it’s yours,” Scott said.
Due to COVID-19, many students had been unable to attend and celebrate their day off, which led to this year’s Scholars Day having students packed in back yards and on the streets in the town of Brockport.
“This was my first Scholars Day because the first two were during COVID, so I was so excited. It was definitely a nice day to just be outside, it reminded me of the beginning of college before COVID when everyone was just, you know, partying and carefree. It was a nice break from classes,” Scott said.
While Borgs grant creative expression, they also allow people to have control of how much they drink. It lets people stick to their one drink throughout the day, without having to go back and continue grabbing more things to drink. A gallon of any beverage is a lot to drink, so it is common to see most people holding their Borgs for more than a couple of hours.
“I didn’t finish my Borg because I felt good. I mean, for me, I really liked the Borgs because I tend to feel [that] once I run out of a drink, I’m going to get another one and accidentally drink way too much. It was nice having just one big thing that I could just sip on and then once I felt drunk, I felt done with it. I don’t need it anymore. I feel like it definitely helped me pace myself,” Scott said.
With drinking Borgs, knowing one’s tolerance is key. Making sure that there is a measured amount to prevent any way of overdoing it is important to be able to drink responsibly.
