diff --git a/package-build.el b/package-build.el
index 2566f92..513b23f 100644
--- a/package-build.el
+++ b/package-build.el
@@ -424,8 +424,14 @@ or snapshots are build.")
                           "--abbrev=12" "--match" tag rev))
     (car (process-lines "git" "rev-parse" "--short=12" rev))))
 
-(cl-defmethod package-build--revdesc ((_rcp package-hg-recipe) rev &optional _tag)
-  rev)
+(cl-defmethod package-build--revdesc ((_rcp package-hg-recipe) rev &optional tag)
+  ;; Cannot use "{shortest(node, minlength=12)}" because that results
+  ;; in "hg: parse error: can't use a key-value pair in this context".
+  (car (process-lines
+        "hg" "id" "--id" "--rev" rev "--template"
+        (if tag
+            (format "{latesttag('%s') % '{tag}-{distance}-m{short(node)}'}\n" tag)
+          "{short(node)}\n"))))
 
 ;;;; Tag