Every brewery project starts with a set of beers and a need to be able to identify them. In developing a portfolio of beers paying homage to Monastic Brewing traditions, we felt it was important to integrate some classic images into our logo and artwork. You will find that in The Lost Abbey artwork we have incorporated the Irish or Celtic cross. Though we will not be making beers soley in the Irish Tradition, we felt it was important to adopt this icon for numerous reasons.

The Celtic and Irish cross shape itself has been widely used by many ancient peoples, long before the arrival of Christianity. Its four arms were perfect for denoting the four elements, the four directions of the compass, and the four parts of man – mind, body, soul and heart. Brewing was once a very seasonal activity centered around the four seasons of each year as well. Working as brewers, we are also acutely aware of the four main ingredients that are used in the brewing process- Barley, Water, Yeast and Hops. There are also four founding partners working on this brewery project. Everywhere we turned, there were relationships of four we felt it was important to remember.

The addition of the ring around the cross making it Celtic in origin played a major role in our adoption as a symbol for The Lost Abbey. The ring around the cross has many explanations. An Irish legend tells how St. Patrick created the first Celtic cross by drawing a circle over a Latin cross to incorporate a pagan moon goddess symbol. For an Irish Catholic, the circle in the Celtic cross may be a symbol of eternity. The addition of a pagan moon goddess symbol reminds us that life is made up of those who believe and those who choose not to believe. It is quite certain that there will be those who choose to believe in The Lost Abbey and those who will not. The ring around the cross connects the elements of brewing together and each of the four pie shapes which make up the circle represent the commitment of the four founding partners to this project.

For us, the circle joins the four points of the cross with a fifth element that Gina, Jim, Tomme and Vince believe represents the spirit of the people that will energize The Lost Abbey on a daily basis. This notion of five points will extend to the brewing process where the traditional 4 brewing ingredients will be combined with this radiating circle resulting in fifth ingredient that we know as Passion. The Celtic cross we are using was developed by our artist Sean Dominguez. On each point you will find one of the traditional four brewing ingredients (barley, yeast, hops and water). Each of these four ingredients is then tied to one another through the circle of passion that binds this project.