diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 856d34660..d37742664 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ endif
 SHELL=/bin/bash -o pipefail -o errexit
 
 # Use the 0.0 tag for testing, it shouldn't clobber any release builds
-TAG ?= 0.33.0
+TAG ?= $(shell cat VERSION)
 
 # e2e settings
 # Allow limiting the scope of the e2e tests. By default run everything
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d07a1960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.33.0
\ No newline at end of file