At 11 a.m. on opening day, mask-wearing customers are already rolling into Red Tape Brewery in Toronto‘s Upper Beaches neighbourhood.

It’s been a long time coming for married business partners, Sarabeth and Sean Holden, who had planned on opening during the first half of 2020. But with construction delays, permit delays and a pandemic to contend with, they, like so many small business owners, had to roll with the punches.

Launching a business amid the coronavirus pandemic meant additional challenges too. Getting necessary items across the closed Canada-United States border, like the stainless steel brew barrels from Indiana, created stress the Holdens weren’t counting on.

Add dealing with alcohol, a highly regulated substance, it means dealing with all three levels of government.

Then, the HVAC system caused a fire and this week, the canning line malfunctioned just in time for Red Tape’s soft launch brew – which sold out in pre-orders – in a matter of days.

The taproom at the front of the brewery was supposed to be filled with people drinking and socializing, but that will have to wait. None of it has been easy which is why the couple decided to name their first beer “That Was Easy.”

“The idea behind ‘That Was Easy’ is that everybody works really hard. You have a tough day… so, at the end of the day, you can open up a can… and just look back at what you’ve done and be proud of it,” said Sarabeth.

Sean started brewing as a hobby 10 years ago. He said he experimented with different styles of beer that weren’t readily available in Ontario. The “Red Tape” name and logo were created in 2014 for use on the couple’s homebrews but the idea for a brewery that would specialize in bespoke beer came in 2018 after the birth of the Holdens’ firstborn, Raymond.