 The first documented mention of the town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski was from around 1257 as part of lands owned by the Cistercian monastery in <unk> . The town grew in prominence due to its location on the road between Poznań and Gubin , a road that continued onward to Saxony . By the 16th century , the Ostroróg family in Greater Poland ( Wielkopolska ) controlled the town . The Ostroróg family was a source of support for the Protestant Reformation in the area , and the town became a center of Protestantism in the country and attracted dissidents from the Czech lands and Western Europe . Craftsmen , scholars , and writers gravitated to the area , which became a center of reformist thought in Wielkopolska . Industrial @-@ scale brewing developed when Johann <unk> , the administrator of the Ostroróg estate and father of Andreas <unk> , a famous Reformation writer , imported skilled brewers from Moravia and Bohemia . 
