The first cider I made used juice from a local orchard that mainly has eating apples, and the cider is sweet and is to drink with the doughnuts. It was not such a good hard cider. One dimensional sums it up.
One of the guys in the club said he used juice from a mill near Howell, MI. This is a small family orchard, but they have many of the older heritage apples. A couple I can remember off the top of my head are Baldwins and Arkansas Blacks. That made a much better cider.
Our club now has a good relationship with the owners. We have done 3 cider pressing days with them over the last 3 years. This year we did 5 differnet blends, for >300 gallons of juice. The orchard uses apples that they can't sell over the counter due to blemishes, small size, or lack of demand for an obscure variety, so they get to use those apples. It is a fun day that many of us look forward to.