diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 645127a9..f803e331 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -69,19 +69,30 @@ WORKDIR /app/
 # Ref: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/guides/integration/docker/#using-the-environment
 ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:$PATH"
 
-# Pass version from Makefile to setuptools-scm since .git is not in context
-ARG SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN
-ENV SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN=$SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN
+# Pass the version from the Makefile. The build context has no usable .git
+# (a git-URL build is a tag-less shallow clone and git is not installed), so
+# hatch-vcs cannot discover the version itself. hatch-vcs calls
+# setuptools_scm without a dist name, so only the generic
+# SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION is honored - the
+# SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_<NAME> variant is silently ignored.
+ARG SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION
+ENV SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION
 
 # Install dependencies
 # Ref: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/guides/integration/docker/#intermediate-layers
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
   --mount=type=bind,source=brewman/uv.lock,target=uv.lock \
   --mount=type=bind,source=brewman/pyproject.toml,target=pyproject.toml \
-  --mount=source=.git,target=.git,type=bind \
   uv sync --locked --no-install-project
 
 COPY /brewman ./
+
+# hatch-vcs generates _version.py only inside uv's isolated wheel build, so
+# the source tree copied here lacks it. Write it ourselves (from the same
+# build arg) so importing brewman from /app works identically to the
+# installed wheel package in .venv.
+RUN printf '__version__ = version = "%s"\n' "$SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION" > brewman/_version.py
+
 COPY --from=builder /frontend/browser /app/frontend
 
 # Sync the project
@@ -89,7 +100,6 @@ COPY --from=builder /frontend/browser /app/frontend
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
   --mount=type=bind,source=brewman/uv.lock,target=uv.lock \
   --mount=type=bind,source=brewman/pyproject.toml,target=pyproject.toml \
-  --mount=source=.git,target=.git,type=bind \
   uv sync --locked --no-editable
 
 EXPOSE 80
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d22f323a..73f8e782 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 .PHONY: build-production
 build-production: ## Build the production container image. Usage: make build-production TAG=15.4.0
+	@test -n "$(TAG)" || { echo "Usage: make build-production TAG=15.4.0" >&2; exit 1; }
 	@echo "Building image..."
 	@podman manifest rm registry.tanshu.com/brewman:latest 2>/dev/null || true
 	@podman build \
 		--platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
 		--manifest registry.tanshu.com/brewman:latest \
 		--pull \
-		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN=$(TAG) \
+		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$(TAG) \
 		https://git.tanshu.com/tanshu/brewman.git#v$(TAG)
 
 	@echo "Pushing manifests..."
@@ -15,22 +16,25 @@ build-production: ## Build the production container image. Usage: make build-pro
 
 .PHONY: build-check
 build-check: ## Multi-arch build without push (compile check). Usage: make build-check TAG=15.4.0
+	@test -n "$(TAG)" || { echo "Usage: make build-check TAG=15.4.0" >&2; exit 1; }
 	@echo "Building image..."
 	@podman manifest rm brewman:test 2>/dev/null || true
 	@podman build \
 		--platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
 		--manifest brewman:test \
 		--pull \
-		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN=$(TAG) \
+		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$(TAG) \
 		https://git.tanshu.com/tanshu/brewman.git#v$(TAG)
 
 .PHONY: build-check-local
-build-check-local: ## Multi-arch build without push (compile check). Usage: make build-check TAG=15.4.0
+# Defaults the version when built without a tag; an explicit TAG still wins.
+build-check-local: TAG = 0.0.0
+build-check-local: ## Single-arch build without push (compile check). Usage: make build-check-local [TAG=15.4.0]
 	@echo "Building image..."
 	@podman manifest rm brewman:test 2>/dev/null || true
 	@podman build \
 		--platform linux/amd64 \
 		--manifest brewman:test \
 		--no-cache \
-		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_BREWMAN=$(TAG) \
+		--build-arg SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$(TAG) \
 		.