diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2e36cc7..f849477 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
-# Commit first, then deploy: the version is the commit the binary was built from.
-VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --always 2>/dev/null || echo dev)
+# Commit first, then deploy: the version is the commit the binary was built from, counted
+# from the base tag. A published release is tagged with a version of this same shape
+# (v0.1.0-137-gc129f65), and described from one of those a build would count from 137 again
+# and read as older than what it replaces — so tags with a dash are never the base.
+VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --exclude '*-*' --always 2>/dev/null || echo dev)
 GO      ?= go
 PREFIX  ?= /usr/local/bin