A 20-year-old Surry man walked into 13 stores this weekend in western Hancock County looking to buy alcohol.

He was working with the Hancock County Underage Drinking Task Force as part of an undercover surveillance operation this weekend to see how well local stores comply with state laws.

The young man went to several stores in Blue Hill, Castine, Penobscot, Orland and Bucksport on Friday night. He had no identification with him, but did not provide false proof of his age if asked, according to police.

He was denied booze in eight stores but the other five sold to him without asking questions.

While those results weren’t exactly encouraging, police said, the numbers were a remarkable improvement from a few months earlier when the task force executed a similar sting in Ellsworth.

In February, a 20-year-old woman successfully purchased alcohol from all eight stores she visited.

“This is a lot better than last time,” Lt. Tim Cote of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said Monday. “I hope that the better results [this weekend] aren’t a direct result of that, though. Stores should be complying whether we do these checks or not.”

State law requires a clerk to ask for identification for any patron who appears to be under the age of 27.

The five stores that sold the young man alcohol all likely will face violations from the Maine Liquor Licensing Board in Augusta. They are: Orland Market and Snowman’s Market in Orland, along with Tozier’s Market, Irving Mainway and RiteAid in Bucksport.

During the surveillance, task force members also issued summonses to three teenagers. Joel Milan, 19, of Orland was found on Route 1 in Orland transporting beer in his vehicle. Forrest Wardwell, 18, of Orland and Teagan Whitten, 18, of Bucksport each were charged with illegal possession of alcohol when police found them with beer at the Toddy Pond boat launch in Orland.

Not long after the surveillance operation, members of the task force acted on a tip and broke up a party at Craig’s Pond in Orland, Cote said.

The owner of the camp, Shawn Costigan of Bucksport, 20, was arrested and charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol.

In addition, 14 other minors two of whom were under the age of 18, were charged with illegal possession of alcohol.

“You’re always going to have a certain amount of this, but it seems like we’re getting more information from the public about what’s going on,” Cote said.

The raid was the latest in a string of underage drinking parties broken up by the Hancock County task force, a multi-jurisdictional group of about 12 officers. In March, police issued nearly 50 summonses to underage drinkers at a pair of parties.