diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gromacs/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gromacs/package.py
index e280234a0e4..d516add3779 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gromacs/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gromacs/package.py
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ def cmake_args(self):
             # fftw-api@3 is provided by intel-mkl or intel-parllel-studio
             # we use the mkl interface of gromacs
             options.append("-DGMX_FFT_LIBRARY=mkl")
-            if not self.spec["mkl"].satisfies("@2023:"):
+            if self.spec.satisfies("@:2022"):
                 options.append(
                     "-DMKL_INCLUDE_DIR={0}".format(self.spec["mkl"].headers.directories[0])
                 )