diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 36ed3f99..27cf09b3 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 |build-status| |coverage| |bitdeli|
 
-:Version: 4.0.0a1
+:Version: 4.0.0rc1
 :Web: http://kombu.me/
 :Download: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/kombu/
 :Source: https://github.com/celery/kombu/
diff --git a/docs/includes/introduction.txt b/docs/includes/introduction.txt
index d0a90145..07c3e45d 100644
--- a/docs/includes/introduction.txt
+++ b/docs/includes/introduction.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-:Version: 4.0.0a1
+:Version: 4.0.0rc1
 :Web: http://kombu.me/
 :Download: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/kombu/
 :Source: https://github.com/celery/kombu/
diff --git a/kombu/__init__.py b/kombu/__init__.py
index b23b6811..15c84103 100644
--- a/kombu/__init__.py
+++ b/kombu/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ if sys.version_info < (2, 7):  # pragma: no cover
 
 from collections import namedtuple  # noqa
 
-__version__ = '4.0.0a1'
+__version__ = '4.0.0rc1'
 __author__ = 'Ask Solem'
 __contact__ = 'ask@celeryproject.org'
 __homepage__ = 'https://kombu.readthedocs.io'