Like stars and stripes, pickups, potbellies and bacon-wrapped everything, beer has long been regarded as quintessentially American. But before the guilt-tripping Temperance movement drove the entire alcohol industry underground, hard cider was considered the nation’s drink of choice.

“Then, for whatever reason, it dropped off,” says Dan Gordon, co-founder of San Jose-based Gordon Biersch Brewery. “But we’re seeing a huge comeback.”

Nationally, alcoholic cider production has outpaced craft beer, tripling from 9.4 million gallons in 2011 to 32 million in 2013, according to the Beer Institute, an industry interest group that represents more than 2,800 breweries.

Gordon has yet to christen his contribution to the trend. In the meantime, he’s calling his still-in-development bubbly apple elixir No Name Cider, which is distributed under the aegis of Aurum Cider Company to focus groups and a few brewpubs in a brown bottle with a plain white label.

Unlike the syrupy sugar-juice that is Angry Orchard or Mike’s Hard-whatever, No Name has a drier champagne flavor profile. The only ingredient listed on the label: fermented apple juice squeezed from Fujis, granny smiths and red and golden delicious.

“We don’t want anything else in there,” Gordon says. “Go to the store, pick up any other brand and you’ll see that they add sulfites, sugar, all these other ingredients you don’t need.”

To avoid bacteria-quelling sulfites or any other additive, Gordon flash-pasteurizes fresh-pressed apple juice he trucks down in gleaming tankers from the Pacific Northwest. While easy to drink, this nameless cider packs a nice buzz with a 6.2-percent alcohol content.

Though Gordon’s pegged September for the official product launch, he’s been building a following on social media by crowdsourcing label design and going back and forth about flavor and packaging design with a group of about 6,000 “inCiders.”

“This is the first time we’ve developed a product this way,” he says. “We’re having fun with it.”

Until No Name is sold on the shelves under an official moniker, it can be found on tap at The Farmers Union by San Jose’s San Pedro Square, Gordon Biersch South Bay locations, First and Main Sports Lounge in Los Altos and The Old Pro in Palo Alto.

To sign up as a No Name Hard Cider “inCider,” go to www.nonamehardcider.com. Perks may or may not include a free case.