Question about buying beer?

I have had to show ID to buy beer. Never had to when I was underage (drinking age was 18 at the time), but now I do. It's part of the policy of the corporate stores.

What has happened is the cops have sent in underage "ringers" to buy beer and liquor, and when the stores sell it to them, they end up losing their liquor license and/or paying a fine. Losing the liquor license can be death to the business and I've seen the locals do it to places they want shut down. One place comes to mind that was mob affiliated and when the politics changed (probably on both sides of the law), they got stung and shut down.