Nothing is known about the origin of the name - it could mean "Fürstenbier" from the Slavic "Knäs" (ruler) and "nack" (beer). It is described as strong, strong, probably top-fermented beer brewed purely from barley. The malt is said to have been well roasted and not too finely ground. Thus a "brown beer", stored for a long time, slightly hopped and cloudy.

Güstrow was already known far beyond its borders in the Middle Ages for its Kniesensack beer; at the courts the Kniesensack beer was regarded as a luxury article because it was expensive to produce and accordingly expensive to purchase. The beer was brewed in the town in a house at the market. It is said that there were two "revival attempts" in the middle and end of the 19th century, the latter of which gave rise to the later Kniesenack brewery in the Am Berge street, which still existed in GDR times.

In the reproduced original text, beer is said to have an aphrodisiac effect, as well as that of a potency agent, a stomach-strengthening, appetite-inducing and generally strengthening effect and its economic benefit are emphasized; while the publisher of the new edition only has approval for the request of the original text to enjoy the beer in small amounts, it otherwise summarizes: "the Kniesensack is the Circe which makes unreasonable animals out of reasonable people".

Praise towards the famous... barley beer Kniesensack
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