diff --git a/lib/forge.func b/lib/forge.func
index 5cb0995..4a1f709 100644
--- a/lib/forge.func
+++ b/lib/forge.func
@@ -1309,13 +1309,15 @@ _forge_descriptor() {
 # release, so -ls45 or -1 revisions still order by their number.
 _FORGE_JQ_VKEY_DEF='def _forge_vkey:
   sub("^[^0-9]*"; "")
+  | (ascii_downcase | capture("[0-9](?<s>[a-z])$") // {s: ""}).s as $rev
   | (capture("^(?<b>[0-9]+(?:[.][0-9]+)*)(?<r>.*)$") // {b: "", r: .}) as $m
   | [$m.b | scan("[0-9]+") | tonumber] as $core
   | ($m.r | ascii_downcase) as $rest
   | ($rest | capture("^[-._+]?(?<l>dev|alpha|beta|preview|pre|rc)(?=[-._0-9]|$)") // {l: ""}).l as $lbl
   | $core + [range($core | length; 6) | 0]
   + [{"dev": 1, "alpha": 2, "beta": 3, "preview": 4, "pre": 4, "rc": 5}[$lbl] // 9]
-  + [$rest | scan("[0-9]+") | tonumber];'
+  + [$rest | scan("[0-9]+") | tonumber]
+  + [$rev | select(. != "") | (explode | .[0]) - 96];'
 _FORGE_JQ_VKEY="(${_FORGE_JQ_VKEY_DEF} (.tag_name // \"\") | _forge_vkey)"
 
 # Highest of the versions on stdin, on the same key as _FORGE_JQ_VKEY.
diff --git a/tests/forge-version-key.sh b/tests/forge-version-key.sh
index 97028de..ff5d921 100644
--- a/tests/forge-version-key.sh
+++ b/tests/forge-version-key.sh
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ suite() {
   check "$v: rc ranks above beta" "1.0.0-rc.1" "$(highest 1.0.0-beta38 1.0.0-rc.1)"
   check "$v: final ranks above rc" "1.0.0" "$(highest 1.0.0-rc.1 1.0.0)"
   check "$v: revision suffixes order by number" "v1.2.3-ls45" "$(highest v1.2.3-ls44 v1.2.3-ls45)"
+  check "$v: a trailing letter is a revision" "release-2026-07-14c" "$(highest release-2026-07-14c release-2026-07-14 release-2026-07-14b)"
+  check "$v: the letter does not outrank the next version" "release-2026-07-15" "$(highest release-2026-07-14c release-2026-07-15)"
+  check "$v: a label is not a revision letter" "1.0.0" "$(highest 1.0.0-beta 1.0.0)"
+  check "$v: an older letter release is behind the newer one" "no" "$(current release-2026-07-14b release-2026-07-14c)"
+  check "$v: a newer letter release is not downgraded" "yes" "$(current release-2026-07-14c release-2026-07-14b)"
   check "$v: 4.0.20.3014 is behind 5.0.0" "no" "$(current 4.0.20.3014 5.0.0)"
   check "$v: 5.0.0 is current" "yes" "$(current 5.0.0 4.0.20.3014)"
   check "$v: stable selection" "v5.0.0" "$(pick false)"