diff --git a/.github/workflows/clojure.yml b/.github/workflows/clojure.yml
index 73e4166..7ac4d88 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/clojure.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/clojure.yml
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@ jobs:
     - name: check out repo
       uses: actions/checkout@v5
 
-    - name: Set up JDK 1.8 
+    - name: Set up JDK 11
       uses: actions/setup-java@v5
       with:
         distribution: 'zulu'
-        java-version: 8
+        java-version: 11
 
     - name: Install clojure tools
-      uses: DeLaGuardo/setup-clojure@13.6.0
+      uses: DeLaGuardo/setup-clojure@13.6.1
       with:
         # Install just one or all simultaneously
         # The value must indicate a particular version of the tool, or use 'latest'
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5b9b2f2..c86ceeb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 * bump clj to 1.12.5
 * bump slf4j-pi to 2.0.18
 * bump charred to 1.039
+* bump beam to 2.74.0
 
 ### Fixed
 * ES unserializable function when parsing JSON.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index caad8a6..b62340e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@
 
 [![cljdoc badge](https://cljdoc.org/badge/datasplash/datasplash)](https://cljdoc.org/d/datasplash/datasplash/CURRENT)
 
-
 Clojure API for a more dynamic [Google Cloud Dataflow][gcloud] and (not really
 battle tested) any other [Apache Beam][beam] backend.
 
+NOTE: datasplash `0.7.36` is the last to target java 8. Subsequent
+versions will target java 11 as required by Beam (see the [`2.74.0` release notes](https://github.com/apache/beam/releases/tag/v2.74.0)).
+
 [gcloud]: https://cloud.google.com/dataflow/
 [beam]: https://beam.apache.org/
 
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index e600618..b6ceda2 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@
 
                  [com.taoensso/nippy "3.6.2"]
 
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-core "2.73.0"]
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-io-elasticsearch "2.73.0"]
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-io-kafka "2.73.0"]
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-direct-java "2.73.0"]
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-google-cloud-dataflow-java "2.73.0"]
-                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-core-java "2.73.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-core "2.74.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-io-elasticsearch "2.74.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-io-kafka "2.74.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-direct-java "2.74.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-google-cloud-dataflow-java "2.74.0"]
+                 [org.apache.beam/beam-runners-core-java "2.74.0"]
                  ;; org.apache.kafka/kafka-clients is required it in
                  ;; the kafka ns. Match the version provided by beam. See:
                  ;; https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.beam/beam-sdks-java-io-kafka
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
   :target-path "target/%s/"
   :source-paths ["src/clj"]
   :java-source-paths ["src/java"]
-  :javac-options ["-target" "1.8" "-source" "1.8" "-Xlint:unchecked"]
+  :javac-options ["-target" "11" "-source" "11" "-Xlint:unchecked"]
   :deploy-repositories {"releases" {:url "https://repo.clojars.org"}}
   :profiles {:dev {:dependencies
                    [[com.oscaro/tools-io "0.3.43"]