I used Alibi this year and had great results. Lots of nice small cukes that made good crunchy pickles. They were also yummy to eat fresh when I missed them in picking and they grew too big to pickle.

A lot would depend on the kind of cucumber pickles you choose to make. In general, the ones designated as pickling cukes have texture which helps them stand up to brine & processing treatments. That's why they are listed separately. On the other hand, I have a friend who makes some outstanding icicle pickles and uses a normal slicer type to do so. If I could only grow one kind of cucumber, I'd choose a pickler. They are fine for processing and just fine for slicing, too. You can pick at any size.

Type is also a factor if you want a smaller product, say a 2-3"pickle. The real pickler types are better (firmer, etc.) at that small stage than slicers. The 'Alibi' mentioned tends to have a smaller average L/D (length to diameter) than some.

You could probably check out the harvest forum & cookbooks for processing ideas. Sometimes the PROCESS is more important than the variety.

Making pickles is far less about the variety of cucumber and much more about the processing method.

Simply put if you are going to follow current USDA safety guidelines you will almost always end up with mushy pickles.

The reason is that the current guidelines require heating (cooking) the cucumbers and this isn't something cucumbers respond to without getting mushy.

Having said that I have used Diva, Sweet Success, County Fair and others for pickling. I use pretty much anything I grow other than the novelty types like 'lemon' for cukes.

If pickled without heat they are all crisp and remain so for at least a year although they do soften a bit over time (but still have crunch).

The recipe I use is this. I can't give credit to the person who posted it other than to say AllRecipes.com lists it, but they have modified it without the author's permission to include cooking the cukes and the person was (maybe still is) a Garden Web member.

INGREDIENTS
 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
 4 cups white vinegar
 12 cups water
 2/3 cup pickling salt
 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
 8 sprigs fresh dill weed
 8 heads fresh dill weed
DIRECTIONS
1. Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil.
3. In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue.
4. Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
5. Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.

The reason this recipe isn't acceptable under current USDA guidelines is that the vinegar to water ratio isn't high enough and everyone who wants crisp pickles omits step 4 entirely. Some people report that using 'Pickle Crisp' helps avoid the mushiness.

Yummy, crispy and haven't gotten ill yet ;-)

I prefer disease resistant varieties, there are some nasty disease out there that will kill your cukes overnight.

I've been using a variety Northern, they're productive, early and fairly disease resistant.