Stone Cat Pumpkin Porter (or Ale)

For those of you out there that are pumpkin fans, here's a tip for you. Go directly to your Not Your Average Joe's and ask for a pint (or two) of the Stone Cat Pumpkin Porter. Their menu has it listed as Stone Cat Pumpkin Ale and, according to the brewery, this is for legal reasons.

...the government currently requires us to use the word "Ale" on any beer that is not a lager or a stout (even IPA needs to be spelled out as India Pale Ale)...

This is interesting. I'm putting out a challenge to our beer community to seek out the legislation that dictates this. Techically, all beers are either ales or lagers, but for some reason they differentiate between ale, lager, and stout.