Charlie's Kitchen's has been a prolific confiscator this fall: a stack of swiped fakes about four inches high lies on a counter in a room behind the bar.

But even when employees make a mistake, it often is not too late.

"Sometimes," says Anthony Ayotte, a clerk at the Harvard Provision, "[You have to] go out on the stoop to see if someone's handing it to a minor, and if so, you have to run out after them and snatch the booze."

The Tricks of the Trade

But even Charlie's pales in comparison to The Kells, a popular Irish bar in Allston whose bouncers are, according to general manager Bob O'Guin, "the best in Boston."

The Kells turns over 30 to 45 confiscated IDs to Allston/Brighton police every week, and, says owner Jerry M. Quinn, its bouncers receive $150 for every 10 fakes they collect.

The large sign next to the door declares, "Students' schools will be notified: Everyone will be taken to court" clearly does not scare everyone away, but the bouncers more than pick up the slack. "The word on campus is, if you're underage, you don't come down here, cause they're so good at the door," Mills boasts.

"Some [fake IDs] are just so ridiculously made," says Kells' head doorman, a large, bearded man named Jimmy, who declined to give his last name.