diff --git a/src/centpkg/__init__.py b/src/centpkg/__init__.py
index 1956a2b..4b6646b 100644
--- a/src/centpkg/__init__.py
+++ b/src/centpkg/__init__.py
@@ -196,7 +196,9 @@ class Commands(Commands):
                             '--define', '_rpmdir %s' % self.layout.rpmdir,
                             '--define', 'dist .%s' % self._disttag,
                             # int and float this to remove the decimal
-                            '--define', '%s 1' % self._disttag]
+                            '--define', '%s 1' % self._disttag,
+                            # This is so the rhel macro is set for spec files
+                            '--define', 'rhel %s' % self._distval.split('_')[0]]
         self.log.debug("RPMDefines: %s" % self._rpmdefines)
 
     def construct_build_url(self, *args, **kwargs):