Founders Brewing Co. has finally broken its silence. And it's closing its Detroit taproom "until further notice."

Michigan's largest brewery sent an email to ticket-holders of this weekend's highly anticipated Canadian Breakfast Stout release and party in Detroit that it's canceling said release and party while closing the popular Detroit taproom indefinitely "in light of the recent events" and due to safety concerns for its employees.

Those "recent events," of course, include the pending racial discrimination lawsuit that reached national news this week when a leaked deposition first posted by the Detroit Metro Times sparked a social media firestorm and led to some Detroit shops, bars and restaurants pulling Founders products from their shelves.

Founders co-founder and president Dave Engbers told the Free Press on Friday afternoon that the brewery closed its Detroit taproom out of an abundance of caution for employee safety and that it has "every intention" of reopening the taproom.

"We’re keeping an eye on things," he said. "Right now, we’re just watching things pretty much day by day. We’re going to give some people some time off until we can make a really strong decision and we will open up again."

Update:Founders Brewing diversity and inclusion director Graci Harkema resigns

More:Founders Brewing co-owner, fired employee speak on racial discrimination case

The CBS release in Grand Rapids, where Founders is based, will still go on as planned.

The email from Founders, via Eventbrite:

It’s with sincere regret that we share with you that the CBS bottle pickup and CBS tapping party at tour Detroit location won’t be happening, as scheduled. In light of the recent events and, more importantly, out of concern of our employees’ safety, we have decided to close the Detroit taproom from Friday, October 25 until further notice. We greatly appreciate your enthusiasm for the introduction of this year’s CBS. We will be issuing full refunds to all CBS bottle ticket holders as soon as possible. As a reminder, CBS will be widely available in market beginning on November 1. To be clear, the Grand Rapids CBS release will go on as scheduled. Again, we are so regretful to share this news and appreciate your understanding and support of Founders. Thank you.”

Canadian Breakfast Stout, or CBS, is Founders' top-rated beer according to craft beer review website Beer Advocate, and this weekend is to be Founders' last CBS release for the foreseeable future. Since it's brewed in such limited quantities, CBS release parties often feature long lines and a celebratory air as craft beer fans revel in perhaps their only chance that year to pick some up.

Founders confirmed that Detroit taproom employees will be paid during the closure, even as several are planning a peaceful protest Saturday at the corner of Charlotte and Cass in Detroit "to address discrimination against Minorities/LGBTQ+/Women in the workforce."

Incident records during the past year at Founders' Detroit taproom at 456 Charlotte showed no reports of threats to employees, Detroit police said Friday morning. Engbers said no threats to employees have been documented, but said the company wanted to preserve their safety with the closing.

Founders co-founders break silence

Engbers and fellow Founders co-founder Mike Stev issued a statement Friday morning on the brewery's website, the company's first communication on the website or social media since Monday, when the deposition first leaked.

Stevens and Engbers said Founders pulled out of this weekend's Fall Beer Festival in Detroit's Eastern Market because they didn't want to be a distraction and said they had the safety of their employees "in mind."

"First and foremost, we apologize to our more than 600 employees – who work hard every day to make and serve some of the best beer in the world – for all of the negative attention," Stevens and Engbers said in the letter. "We have committed to work closely with them to make any changes to the company that need to be made to ensure a positive future. Those conversations are underway.

"Because of the pending litigation that has received so much attention of late, we can’t talk any more specifically about the lawsuit that has been in the news. But we want to tell our customers in Detroit, in Michigan and around the country that seeing the integrity and value system of Founders being questioned is one of the hardest things we have ever experienced.

"We had been advised not to talk about any of this, even as allegations have been cast in our direction. But we realize we need to talk about this now.

"Whatever falls short – according to our culture bringing people together and standards – will be fixed. Our Founders Family will point us in the right direction."

Engbers and Stevens opened Founders' doors for the first time in 1997. Over the years, it became one of Michigan's most prominent breweries, creating popular beers such as Red's Rye IPA, Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Dirty Bastard.

Over the past few years, however, growth became exponential — and global. In 2011, Founders began packaging its session All Day IPA, which fast became its most popular beer across the states. In 2014, it sold a 30% minority stake to Spanish beer company Mahou San Miguel to expand production and distribution, which led to Founders surpassing Comstock-based Bell's Brewery, which remains 100% independent, as Michigan's largest brewery. Earlier this year, Founders became the first Michigan brewery to distribute its beers to all 50 states.

However, with such growth came growing pains. None stand more prominently than the racial discrimination lawsuit filed by Tracy Evans, a fired events and promotions manager, last year.

Evans, who is black, alleges that Founders tolerated a "racist internal corporate culture," passed on him for promotions because of his race and witnessed multiple employees say the N-word around him without immediately getting fired (the latter of which Founders admitted to in its response to the lawsuit; it's denied most other allegations). Evans also says Founders management in Grand Rapids electronically named two printers the "white guy printer" and "black guy printer," which Founders has denied.

As the lawsuit makes its way through court, a transcript leaked Monday of a deposition featuring Founders Detroit general manager Dominic Ryan, who fired Evans last year. In the deposition, Ryan would not say whether Evans is black and said he doesn't know whether Barack Obama, Michael Jordan or Kwame Kilpatrick are black because he's never "met" them.

Also sparking criticism among craft beer enthusiasts was Founders' decision last August to sell a 90% majority stake to Mahou San Miguel, a move some consider to be "selling out" to Big Beer. Founders has maintained it will remain autonomous in managing its business and that Stevens and Engbers are not leaving the company.

Founders opened the Detroit taproom, its second, in December 2017.

Frank Witsil contributed.

Spirits of Detroit writer Brian Manzullo covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: bmanzullo@freepress.com and on Untappd, bmanzullo and Twitter, @BrianManzullo and @SpiritsofDET.