[corkybstewart]

Dale,
The differences between ales and lagers are not as concrete as marketers would have us believe. Generally beers are considered ales if the yeast used ferments best at warmer temps and ferments at the top of the wort. Lagers use yeast that ferment at cooler temps and at the bottom of the tank. But there are many yeasts that are top fermenting but best at cool temps-kolsch is one of those. I ferment my Kolsch at around 57-60F as opposed to ales at 60-62 and lagers at 50-54. But then you have steam beers that use lager(bottom fermenting) yeast but fermented at 65F.
Also remember that the word lager is German for "to store" and is used because lagers were stored in caves for several months at low temperatures prior to being consumed. But many ales also benefit from a month or 2 of cold storage(lagering).
Sorry I can't give you any clear cut answers but beer(real beer) is just not so simple.