diff --git a/pkg/kafka/producer/config.go b/pkg/kafka/producer/config.go
index c866c4d957f..4e254e12b1a 100644
--- a/pkg/kafka/producer/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kafka/producer/config.go
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ type Builder interface {
 
 // Configuration describes the configuration properties needed to create a Kafka producer
 type Configuration struct {
-	Brokers []string
+	Brokers         []string
+	ProtocolVersion string
 	auth.AuthenticationConfig
 }
 
@@ -36,5 +37,12 @@ func (c *Configuration) NewProducer() (sarama.AsyncProducer, error) {
 	saramaConfig := sarama.NewConfig()
 	saramaConfig.Producer.Return.Successes = true
 	c.AuthenticationConfig.SetConfiguration(saramaConfig)
+	if len(c.ProtocolVersion) > 0 {
+		ver, err := sarama.ParseKafkaVersion(c.ProtocolVersion)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		saramaConfig.Version = ver
+	}
 	return sarama.NewAsyncProducer(c.Brokers, saramaConfig)
 }
diff --git a/plugin/storage/kafka/options.go b/plugin/storage/kafka/options.go
index 136449d6e14..8b8ff0760fa 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/kafka/options.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/kafka/options.go
@@ -33,13 +33,14 @@ const (
 	// EncodingZipkinThrift is used for spans encoded as Zipkin Thrift.
 	EncodingZipkinThrift = "zipkin-thrift"
 
-	configPrefix    = "kafka.producer"
-	suffixBrokers   = ".brokers"
-	suffixTopic     = ".topic"
-	suffixEncoding  = ".encoding"
-	defaultBroker   = "127.0.0.1:9092"
-	defaultTopic    = "jaeger-spans"
-	defaultEncoding = EncodingProto
+	configPrefix          = "kafka.producer"
+	suffixBrokers         = ".brokers"
+	suffixTopic           = ".topic"
+	suffixProtocolVersion = ".protocol-version"
+	suffixEncoding        = ".encoding"
+	defaultBroker         = "127.0.0.1:9092"
+	defaultTopic          = "jaeger-spans"
+	defaultEncoding       = EncodingProto
 )
 
 var (
@@ -59,15 +60,19 @@ func (opt *Options) AddFlags(flagSet *flag.FlagSet) {
 	flagSet.String(
 		configPrefix+suffixBrokers,
 		defaultBroker,
-		"(experimental) The comma-separated list of kafka brokers. i.e. '127.0.0.1:9092,0.0.0:1234'")
+		"The comma-separated list of kafka brokers. i.e. '127.0.0.1:9092,0.0.0:1234'")
 	flagSet.String(
 		configPrefix+suffixTopic,
 		defaultTopic,
-		"(experimental) The name of the kafka topic")
+		"The name of the kafka topic")
+	flagSet.String(
+		configPrefix+suffixProtocolVersion,
+		"",
+		"Kafka protocol version - must be supported by kafka server")
 	flagSet.String(
 		configPrefix+suffixEncoding,
 		defaultEncoding,
-		fmt.Sprintf(`(experimental) Encoding of spans ("%s" or "%s") sent to kafka.`, EncodingJSON, EncodingProto),
+		fmt.Sprintf(`Encoding of spans ("%s" or "%s") sent to kafka.`, EncodingJSON, EncodingProto),
 	)
 	auth.AddFlags(configPrefix, flagSet)
 }
@@ -78,6 +83,7 @@ func (opt *Options) InitFromViper(v *viper.Viper) {
 	authenticationOptions.InitFromViper(configPrefix, v)
 	opt.config = producer.Configuration{
 		Brokers:              strings.Split(stripWhiteSpace(v.GetString(configPrefix+suffixBrokers)), ","),
+		ProtocolVersion:      v.GetString(configPrefix + suffixProtocolVersion),
 		AuthenticationConfig: authenticationOptions,
 	}
 	opt.topic = v.GetString(configPrefix + suffixTopic)