diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/essl/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/essl/package.py
index 115b0ca4ae..f153735699 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/essl/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/essl/package.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class Essl(Package):
     homepage = "https://www.ibm.com/systems/power/software/essl/"
     url      = "ibm-essl"
 
+    version('6.1')
     version('5.5')
 
     variant('ilp64', default=False, description='64 bit integers')