diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 951a925c09..7fe6d05ba1 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+paasta-tools (1.6.3) xenial; urgency=medium
+
+  * 1.6.3 tagged with 'make release'
+    Commit: Remove vtgate lifecycle hooks (#3966)  Remove vtgate
+    lifecycle hooks as we"re not proceeding with #3959 and would like to
+    have functional vtgate pods for testing
+
+ -- Luis Perez <luisp@yelp.com>  Mon, 07 Oct 2024 12:24:40 -0700
+
 paasta-tools (1.6.2) xenial; urgency=medium
 
   * 1.6.2 tagged with 'make release'
diff --git a/paasta_tools/__init__.py b/paasta_tools/__init__.py
index f0c7cfe7cd..bf940333ac 100644
--- a/paasta_tools/__init__.py
+++ b/paasta_tools/__init__.py
@@ -17,4 +17,4 @@
 # setup phase, the dependencies may not exist on disk yet.
 #
 # Don't bump version manually. See `make release` docs in ./Makefile
-__version__ = "1.6.2"
+__version__ = "1.6.3"
diff --git a/yelp_package/Makefile b/yelp_package/Makefile
index 410dd0ac44..54a29beb35 100644
--- a/yelp_package/Makefile
+++ b/yelp_package/Makefile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 # Edit this release and run "make release"
-RELEASE=1.6.2
+RELEASE=1.6.3
 
 SHELL=/bin/bash