diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7a1dbf22..2beef18e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ BINDIR ?= $(PREFIX)/bin
 BINARY = $(addprefix bin/,finch-daemon)
 
 PACKAGE := github.com/runfinch/finch-daemon
-VERSION := $(shell git describe --match 'v[0-9]*' --dirty='.modified' --always --tags)
+VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --match 'v[0-9]*' --dirty='.modified' --always --tags)
 GITCOMMIT := $(shell git rev-parse HEAD)$(shell if ! git diff --no-ext-diff --quiet --exit-code; then echo .m; fi)
 
 ifndef GODEBUG