Food Theory: This TikTok Drink is the Best WORST Idea Ever! (BORG)

Wait... Star Trek isn't cool?

I think the gallon size is to make sure you dont run out and can always say no to other peoples drink offers. You dont have to drink it all on the night. You could take it home & then bring it to the next party. It helps hide how little you've been drinking, particularly if you always start with one that is at most 3/4 full.

If you just make it in a Liter bottle instead of a gallon (using 1/4 the ingredients) and use non-caffeinated flavoring, it adds up to a reasonable all-evening party cocktail for one person, and no need to monitor your intake drunk because you planned it advance when you.were sober

Fascinating how many of those Four Loko stories were parents suing the manufacturer of an alcoholic beverage for the consequences of their children drinking way underage.

I agree with the points MatPat laid out here. The safety from drugging and spiking is actually a really big positive of the borg that I wouldn't have even considered at first. That being said, alcohol abuse is really something I hate seeing being risked. My brother's been hospitalised and my dad's been addicted, it's scary stuff and borg just sounds like death in a jug

I used to very frequently just drink a bottle of 750ml vodka straight at parties, so the watering it down immediately made this safer in my opinion 🤷‍♀️

When I was in college my friends and I made my borg with caffeine-free kool aid because a very nice nurse on campus had told us the dangers of caffeine with alcohol I’m very happy that we were told this before something bad happened

Thank you Matt from the bottom of my heart and soul for talking about how often people are getting their drinks spiked. More people need to be talking about how bad it's getting and how life altering it can be. Seriously thank you

The base mixture is pretty scary as stated in the video but the customization means that those dangers can be decreased or even negated, I mean one could even have a borg full of soda and juice with no alcohol if they really wanted to. All in all I think if the drink is made responsibly the benefits definitely make the Borg a worth while idea.

The points about avoiding spiked or drugged drinks are actually really solid, I hadn't even considered that. If you just put like, kool aid or sports drink in with maybe a smidge of alcohol if you felt like it, that'd actually be just fine.

Overall, I think it's a good thing so long as you're responsible with what you put into it. A borg with water, non-caffeinated flavoring (maybe actual Kool aid), and a set amount of alcohol that is well within your own limits might actually keep you safer imo.

I know it's not glamorous but I really appreciate Matt delivering what is essentially a PSA in a semi-interesting way. Information about these risks needs to be put somewhere where people will listen.

I was surprised by the amount of vodka in the recipe

i love the alcohol food theory episodes. I never thought matpat would be telling me how to drink responsibly

Y'know I was also going to write this off as people making bad decisions, but seeing the actual safety provided by making your own drinks I definitely get it. I've had a jungle juice or two that was definitely too strong, and probably not super safe.

I work in a college town and saw so many kids carrying these around on St. Patrick’s Day weekend! Thank you for helping me understand wtf I was looking at lol!

Honestly thank you for talking about this. I'm in college and I may not be a party person but it's super super important to talk about it and support things like this for the sake of self preservation.

Thank you for talking about the spiked drink stats. I’m afraid to go to bars or parties when I’m 21 out of the fear that my drink will be spiked and I will be assaulted. Even bartenders have done that some times!

Matpat is great at keeping his viewers safe and entertained while telling dad jokes in the process

This is potentially a smart idea. And since you can adjust the BORG's recipe, you could potentially make it completely non-alcoholic.

In all honesty as someone who doesn’t drink but wishes more mocktails were available when I’m with friends I would love to just carry my own mocktails with them in the form of Borg.

Concerning the strength of the drink:
By the volumes listed in the video (rounded for simplicity), the ratio of water, booze, and mix is 50/20/30.
Meanwhile, at home I'm mixing my rum & Coke at a ratio of 0/40/60 (no water for me, I actually want to taste the rum, thanks).
Unless my math is super wrong, because my drink isn't watered down, that means by volume, BORG contains half as much alcohol as my rum & Coke.
So either this drink is basically safe (if consumed over the course of several hours) or I'm nearly dying every time I drink.
When drinking at home, I drink out of a Coke glass, which holds exactly 444ml (or one entire can of Guinness).
I tend to drink two of these, which equals about 355ml of rum total (approximately the volume of a soda can).
If I were to push it to four drinks, that's about 710ml, almost the whole bottle of rum, and more than a liter of Coke.
This would definitely have me throwing up and probably going to the hospital if consumed within a couple hours.
This brings me to the subject of high intensity drinking.
Maybe I missed it in the video where it's explicitly stated, but is anyone actually drinking a whole gallon of this stuff in 2 hours?
It seems more like the kind of thing you do to last you a whole night, which is exactly how I might use it at home for an 8-hour drunk-gaming session.
I suppose it all comes down to pacing yourself and knowing your limits, or as it's often phrased: "please enjoy responsibly".
Note: I recognize that BORG apparently uses vodka, and I drink rum.
However, both have an ABV of 40%, which is all that matters for our purposes.

I got my college degree through online courses since I had kids and couldn't change work hours. There were a lot of times I felt like I missed the college experience. Then I hear stuff like this and I'm like, maybe I didn't miss as much as I thought. 🤔

This episode really opened my eyes. I have never heard of a Borg because I’m not in college but every time I drink I drink tequila and monster because someone told me drinking monster would get me drunker and I always fall asleep after drinking a a little, so it helps me stay awake, but I did not know the effect it had on my body until just now and that’s crazy so thank you you

I like the idea behind the borg; the control over your drink. I feel like once people understand just how many drinks they're putting in, they'll be able to make a smarter decision.

Let’s all just appreciate the work,editing,ideas,research and all the work mat pat and his team does just to entertain us

Seems like it’s perfectly fine in terms of drinks, as long as there’s no caffeine put in it.
I’m glad that people are getting educated about being safe while doing this stuff. If someone wants to get drunk, they’re GONNA get drunk, so it’s better if they’re safe about it.

The Borg is honestly more about harm reduction. If you think about it many of those old school punch bowls had 2-3 servings of alcohol per red solo cup (on the low end) and I have seen people drink 6 or seven solo cups by the end of the night. That's between 12-21 servings of alcohol so not too far off. This way they have a visual of how much alcohol they are actually consuming, they make it, it's labeled so it won't be mixed up, and it has the added protection of the cap to prevent contamination. All in all, it's a pretty ingenious way for people who's frontal lobes aren't totally developed to stay safer than before!

Me and my friends made what was basically peach tea BORG years ago but without the caffeine. That being said, there was like 5 of us that split that fifth of vodka worth of alcohol. Honestly tempted to make it again because it was good and the electrolytes pack would be a nice addition.
I had heard of this trend but never learned about the absurd amount of caffeine before today. Also one of my first thoughts was that casual drinkers can just mix it weaker

You raise some very good points about the dangers that are present with borgs. I think a lot of it can be nullified by reaching out and teaching people proper safety of alcohol. The common "Borg" at my university typically contains about half a bottle of vodka, and while that is still a lot, it is noticibly less than an entire bottle, as well as the frequency of people finishing an entire gallon is low, and usually only seems to happen at long parties, or with pregames that lead into parties. Due to educational programs offered by our health prevention and advocacy center, they've also encouraged people to not use caffeine within them. While incidents due still happen with people getting overly intoxicated, from anecdotal experience, the issue of assault, while still present has gone down. Alcohol in a borg is still alcohol, and we must educate people to drink and treat it as such.

I actually love how refreshingly honest your point on the safe side of personal drinks at parties can be. The stats of spiked drinks in and out of college are absolutely terrifying, and the amount of mostly women that I know of that have been spiked and assaulted angers me to my core.
Kids, if youre gonna borg, do it safe, either limit the alcohol level or remove the caffeine side of it before doing so.

Great video! You should make a video whether zero sugar drinks is healthier than normal sugar drinks since I've heard a good amount of discussion about the topic.

Honestly the Borg is a good idea if you make it to use with friends and use non caffeinated sweeteners. It’s so much safer to go out with 1 or 2 Borgs with a bunch of people than to drink frat punch or keg beer for the reason you talked about.

I actually really like how this turned out! The safety of carrying around your own drink and the bonus of not needing to drink the alcohol there to fit in, I like to think someone realized the benefits of normalizing the concept of the BORG and ran with it. Honestly though I think I'd be skipping on the caffeinated flavoring. There are other options.

An interesting food theory idea: is it in your best interest to cut off your strawberry leaves/ stems, or is it better to leave them on? my mom always used to fuss at me when i cut the leaves off because i was "wasting so much of the strawberry." are you actually loosing money if strawberries are being priced by pound, are there optimal ways to cut the leaves off, and (for all the psychotic people in my life,) can you eat the leaves, and if so, are you getting anything out of it?

Love the fact matpat is pointing out the safety part of it. I can’t trust any drink that wasn’t made by me or can be left open

Borg is definitely something that is totally fine as long as the person making and drinking it is cautious and making the right decision. Just like with any other alcohol it's not "good" but if done right, can be something safe and fun.
I'm not of drinking age yet but I think it'd be fun to try once I am (safely ofc)

I made one recently to the “standard recipe” for Mardi Gras parade day. It was shared between me and my spouse throughout the day (from like 9 am until about 10pm that night). I put 2 liquid iv in mine and honestly didn’t feel hungover the next day.
I honestly like this idea because you control how much or how little alcohol you have in it. And it also helps with the stigma of not drinking at college parties, if everyone has these jugs, no one really knows what you have in yours. It could be straight kool aid and no one would be the wiser.

It is quite funny that were I live in Germany something "similar" as the Borg is actually very popular. We basically often take 3/4 Liter of a soft drink (or anything else) and just ad about 1/4 Liter of Vodka or some other alcoholic drink. Of course the "standard" borg is probably to huge for the average person and the caffein amount is also very dangerous, but the core idea isnt that weird in my opinion 😅

It would be great to put your choice of beverage (that's safe) in a water bottle instead cuz it's easy to hold onto and it's more secure. Plus people can't really tell what you have in there

Polish version of it is called "kociołek panoramixa" (Panoramix's cauldron in literal translation, apparently it gives you an unhuman powers, just like in the french comedy movie)
Recipe includes:
500ml of vodka
4 cans of beer
750ml of sparkling wine
1l of energy drink
200ml of concentrated raspberry/cherry juice
Mix it all together and it's done (can even be heated, but then it loses the sparkling effects)
The point is to make it as cheap as possible, which usually makes it poisonous af.
I'll never forget the headaches that happened day after consuming this potion in higher doses.😅
I reckon that this "borg" stuff is nothing when compared to Polish enchanted version, but it doesn't suprise me tbh😂

Unis student here who also works in a bar:
I have had an entire bottle of vodka in one night before (with mixers, I'm not that stupid). Here are my drinking tips to stay safe
1- if you are at a party, never drink when you're alone. At least one person in your group HAS to stay sober. Make it fair by rotating
2- my personal recommendation is to only get drinks in bottles, like VK, WKD, Rekordilig, Budweiser etc. Don't get mixed drinks or drinks from taps (in my experience they are also cheaper)
3- if your drink is unattended for even a SECOND, that is no longer your drink. Abandon it or even better, dump it to prevent others from drinking a potentially spiked drink.
5- If five people enter the party, five people are leaving. If your friend is drunk, do not let them go to someone else's place for a hook up. Especially if that other person is sober.
6- if you don't see the drink being poured, do not drink it. If you feel uncomfortable with someone who bought you a drink, or you just don't want it, put it down discreetly or accidentally spill it. DO NOT do anything you are uncomfortable doing. Practice saying no. No does not stop predators sadly, but it can get someone else's attention
7- ALWAYS MAKE A SCENE if you feel unsafe. Make as much noise as you can, get all eyes on you if possible. It does not matter if you are embarrassing yourself. Your safety is more important.
8- (this one is just for convenience and can be more fun with the right people) drink at home with friends. Make your own foul cocktails in the safety of your own home. Worst case scenario, you throw up in your bedroom sink and have to spend an hour cleaning it the next morning.
Have fun and stay safe!!!

My psych teacher spent an entire class period talking about the affects and differences on how how things like alcohol, caffeine, and certain drugs affect you and what happens when you mix them. She was one of my favorite teachers, conditioned us to taste lemons when we hear payphone by maroon 5 😂 don't worry, we supplied the lemons and all of us consented to forever associate lemons with a song

I usually find a borg to last me 2-3 nights if i'm drinking solo. Makes it great for sharing and parties. also there are non caffeine water flavor enhancers.

Yeah, my friends convinced me to go to Blarney (I go to UMass Amherst) and I was very confused about the whole BORG thing because I never heard about it before that. I didn’t drink any of them, but I definitely saw the effects that the BORGs had with people passing out and peeing on the street. Not something I want to go to again

Food Theory Idea: Are all cereal mascots in a connective universe.
Think about it, I mean there have been ads where a lot of them have been together.

Great episode! Thought this was gonna have to do with riot juice though. Worst decision I made with any of my friends: a fifth of everclear filling a gallon jug the rest of the way with gatorade. It was a friends birthday. I remember waking up standing in a… uh… exotic dance club? I don’t remember going in, but I remember my first dance being from a woman named Jessica. My mood took a turn when I found out she performed on the sopranos or the godfather or some other mafia movie/show from the 80’s

honestly just using a non-caffinated drink mix and a smaller container would fix this entirely. im not exactly a partygoer but i can see the good intent behind it to keep yourself safe

The energy and enthusiasm in this video were contagious, it got me pumped up!

This is better than what my college friends used to drink. It involved a few cans of red bull and blue Gatorade drink mix made with vodka and everclear instead of water. It was surprisingly drinkable considering you could probably run a car on it.

I'm glad I never have to subject myself to the idiotic content on tiktok. Thanks MattPatt keep our fragile minds safe.
#themoreyouknow 🌈

Wasn't called a borg, but this is literally the exact thing I'm used to seeing being done at conventions since the 90's (The earliest I was able to attend them). Repurposed milk jugs used to mix your own beverage (Rules said it had to be a closed container after all.

Speaking of childhood inspired alcohol I definitely recommend my alcohol of choice: caprisun and soju. So of my favorite combos are strawberry kiwi and strawberry soju. And fruit punch with orange soju. So good and lowkey dangerous 😂

you'll never be done covering stupid tik tok trends MatPat

So basically during my first week of classes on campus there was a group of people who were handing out free snowcones and free cotton candy. I ofc said yes to it.
Sadly, the free snow cone I was given had some form of wine mixed in to the flavoring.
I have a minor allergy to wine (resulting in massive migraines soon after consuming) and at this point I was not of a legal drinking age.

We had something like this here in Puerto Rico when I was in college (1998), our recipe was almost the same except we used Crystal light lemon flavor, and a whole bottle of 151⁰ proof rum. We called it "Limoncillo" or little lemon in English. 😁

As someone who doesn't love the idea of getting drunk at all, I think I'd just go with a gallon of water with some pinkish-orange food coloring, or maybe some iced tea and lemonade (an old hippo recommended it)

Back when I was in college (10+ years ago) I used to drink exactly that. Vodka, water, and mio. It was an attempt at cutting calories lol.

Food theory idea
Could Costco be considered a restaurant based off the amount of samples they serve?

As a college student who lives in an area with tons of fraternities, I’ve heard so many people talk about this. One of my friends said that if you didn’t make the Borg it will send you to the morgue, but if you bring your own you’re more likely to make it home.

Stories like this are why I will never drink and remain sober until the day I die.

Matpat you've done it again, caused me to choke because I somehow haven't learned not to drink whilst watching your videos

Caffeine and alcohol not canceling each other out reminds me of someone who had a mint with a spicy pepper. Don't cancel each other out

Panera is having to get a large cup for a dangerous amount of caffeine while Mio needs a tiny bottle to get half of that amount of caffeine

Food Theory idea: Is there a significant difference in the nutritional value or cleanliness (?) of rice when washed till clean or not?
My family does not wash rice more than once because "it will wash away the nutrients" and it surprised me that most Asians like me wash it until the water is clean, so I was just curious to know if there's really a difference or not?

Matt's suggestion about the Borg Baby I'd pretty spot on. On my college campus I've seen people utilizing the smaller 1/2 gallon bottles for their Borgs instead of the traditional full gallon. Additionally I highly doubt many people utilize the full bottle of vodka for their Borgs, usually it's 1/4 a gallon vodka with 3/4 water. Additionally, I have never seen anyone use an ENTIRE bottle of Mio for their Borgs. That's wayyy too expensive for us college students to be wasting like that.

Funny thing is I’ve been doing this for years but with a slight difference…if I’m going with a gallon of lemonade (3.89L) I’ll just throw in a 1.75L bottle of vodka, or one time I mixed in some 5 hour energies to make things “interesting.”

@MatPat the drink that Four Loko was first was just called FOUR and it still had blackout qualities. Pretty sure it was a malt liquor + caffeine, mot beer. I remember being in college and it coming out for the first time and it was EVERYWHERE. And it was dangerous!! It’s wild that the caffeine/alcohol drink is making a comeback. Yikes!!

I think that the Borg could be beneficial for people not with the caffeine and liquor content but the fact that you could be holding any drink in your hand. My friend who is underaged did something like this. But they just made some powdered lemonade and pretended to be really drunk.

So, unrelated question here: the famous munch/chomp stock sound effect that Food Theory uses at the end of each episode is a very iconic stock sound. It's right up there with the Wilhelm Scream. Ive been trying to find out how it was made (from a Foley artist perspective.) People have given me thousands of guesses and hypotheses, but none have ever held up or lead to an answer. Does anyone know definitively where this sound came from? (I'm gping to ask the 20,000 Hertz podcast as well.)

I used to do this years ago back in my early college days, except we’d use the cheapest rum we could find and then put a bunch of crystal light packets in it (lemonade or pink lemonade). We called it Limoncillo and it was delicious. It was still dangerous though cause since it tasted like juice we’d get super wasted.

i am SO happy that MatPat talked about the commonality of spiked drinks; too many people forgot how serious it is 😣

I drank 20 beers a night for 3 months on a long vacation at 17 and now that's 2 times the threshold for high intensity drinking so my casual drinking was actually ranked competitive drinking

Before the Four Loko part, I was going to say... this borg drink is nothing compared to pounding a few original 4Ls back when I was in school. Then you brought it up right on cue.

This reminds me of a drink I'd make in college called Skittles where I'd pour a full fifth of vodka into a 2L of Mtn Dew top it off with some koo-aid packets and a bag of skittles and you have the single most lethal thing I've ever made xD

My university only lets first years live in dorms (rather than cluster housing) because they kept having to call ambulances. Dorms are more supervised but we still managed to use fireworks inside on Halloween lol

I wasn’t expecting something that was 50% water, 50% vodka. When he first started describing borg, I was expecting more along the lines of a jug sized suicide made of alcohol (for those that don’t know, a suicide is what it’s called when you mix all the drinks on a soda fountain in one cup. Just some old playground slang).

I don't drink, but this sounds like it has the potential to be the best or worst idea depending on the individual making it. More water, less alcohol, no caffeine, add some flavor and/or hydration enhancers, then pace yourself, and you might have a recipe for a good time. I still wouldn't drink it, but I get it. With the right tweaks, I approve.

I wouldn’t make one to drink by myself, I’d make it as a quick and easy mock tail to serve at a party

Back in college (it was a dry campus lol), I used to make grog, water rum and some fruit juice with orange slices. Similar to a Borg but no caffeine.

Geez… that’s nothing compared to my generation! Mixing the gallon full of booze, using 1/2 and 1/4 bottles from the remaining stuff we had. Maybe some Kool Aid or orange juice and that was it! No water included 😂

In college we did it with dark Nalgene's the 32 oz ones. You'd pitch in for a bottle of something like vodka, everyone would take a share then you'd top it with juice. You could walk around the rez hall without attracting attention when coming or going. Way less volume and no caffeine. Caffeine would usually be a separate beverage so you could have it when you needed it and only then.

I actually went to a party a week ago and someone offered me this and it was one of the worst things i’ve had i hate my generation

I’m only recently out of college. Never seen these, but I kind of want to make one with no alcohol, ginger tea, and several liquid IV’s.

This makes me glad I never got into drinking alcohol. Stealing a chug from my father's ice cold can of coors light when I was 8y/o may have been stupid at the time, but it was one of the best things I've ever done! It was so disguting, I've never touched alcohol ever since😆😆😆 My Dad caught me, but He couldn't stop laughing at the faces I made in disgust😆😆😆

This just makes me think of the turpentine and honey cocktail from The Lighthouse
Btw would that actually be drinkable?

During my early 20s, I was extremely forced everytime because I was funny drunk. Nowadays, in my mid 20s it’s easy to just say no. Even when someone “buys” or “pours” me one. It’s easy to just blame it on them lol. But I hate it when people do that

Today I learned the term "binge drinking", I never heard that before. Jesus Christ, am I glad that I barely ever touch the stuff and also have no need for it.

LOL legit if this was a thing when I was 21 I would definitely make it at home without alcohol before going to my friends or a party. I hated being pressured to drink and this would have saved me from all that nonsense.

if you just change the water to alcohol ratio and go with non caffeinated flavoring it turns into a pretty good idea.

I assumed it would be all the unfinished drinks "assimilated" into one jug to drink later

A years ago my go to drink was a Gatorade bottle filled half way with water and the rest with vodka and some mio or flavoring to not taste the alcohol. So I guess I was a trend setter lol

Imagine how cool it would be if Matt made a video about Battery Acid? ( the TikTok drink )

Nothing better than watching food theory while eating

Can I just say thank you? I feel like you grabbing our attention saying how dangerous is the borg, then explaning that spike drinks are a huge deal is really important. I really appreciate it that you are always trying to make the world a better place! ( One diet coke at the time! )

the solution i came up with is just getting a flavor enhancer without caffeine. and i added hydration packs so there was no hangover

My fiance knew the kid who “walked in the path of a car” personally and went to hgih school with him. The full story is he was at a high school party but realized he was drunk so he called his parents to pick him up. While they were driving him home he asked them if they could pull over so he could throw up, and thats when a car hit him when he was trying to get out to vomit. its a really tragic story of someone who did something dumb but tried his best to be somewhat responsible

Great editing and script writing these are high quality videos

It's pretty funny to watch things like this as a Slav, because I've seen kids under 18, which is a legal drinking age in my country, down an entire bottle without stopping and come out fully functional after 12 hours sleep, altho I could count such people on 2 hands it is impressive

So what I'm hearing is I should mix caffeine and alcohol the next time I really want to get drunk 👍