diff --git a/mk/main.mk b/mk/main.mk
index 37efe5e12f8..e55b7e9ab8c 100644
--- a/mk/main.mk
+++ b/mk/main.mk
@@ -27,12 +27,13 @@ CFG_RELEASE=$(CFG_RELEASE_NUM)
 CFG_PACKAGE_VERS=$(CFG_RELEASE_NUM)
 endif
 ifeq ($(CFG_RELEASE_CHANNEL),beta)
-CFG_RELEASE=$(CFG_RELEASE_NUM)-beta$(CFG_BETA_CYCLE)
+# The beta channel is temporarily called 'alpha'
+CFG_RELEASE=$(CFG_RELEASE_NUM)-alpha$(CFG_BETA_CYCLE)
 # When building beta/nightly distributables just reuse the same "beta"
 # name so when we upload we'll always override the previous
 # nighly. This doesn't actually impact the version reported by rustc -
 # it's just for file naming.
-CFG_PACKAGE_VERS=beta
+CFG_PACKAGE_VERS=alpha
 endif
 ifeq ($(CFG_RELEASE_CHANNEL),nightly)
 CFG_RELEASE=$(CFG_RELEASE_NUM)-nightly