diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index cd5d3c494..c46804078 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ language: go
 go:
 - 1.6.3
 - 1.7.3
+- 1.8
 
 env:
   global:
@@ -12,8 +13,7 @@ env:
   - DEBUG=true
   matrix:
   - KAFKA_VERSION=0.9.0.1
-  - KAFKA_VERSION=0.10.0.1
-  - KAFKA_VERSION=0.10.1.0
+  - KAFKA_VERSION=0.10.2.0
 
 before_install:
 - export REPOSITORY_ROOT=${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4801b1d64..0c0b9f570 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ You might also want to look at the [Frequently Asked Questions](https://github.c
 Sarama provides a "2 releases + 2 months" compatibility guarantee: we support
 the two latest stable releases of Kafka and Go, and we provide a two month
 grace period for older releases. This means we currently officially support
-Go 1.7 and 1.6, and Kafka 0.10.0 and 0.9.0, although older releases are
+Go 1.8, 1.7, and 1.6, and Kafka 0.10 and 0.9, although older releases are
 still likely to work.
 
 Sarama follows semantic versioning and provides API stability via the gopkg.in service.
diff --git a/dev.yml b/dev.yml
index e014316fe..adcf94213 100644
--- a/dev.yml
+++ b/dev.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 name: sarama
 
 up:
-  - go: 1.7.3
+  - go:
+      version: '1.8'
 
 commands:
   test:
diff --git a/message_test.go b/message_test.go
index af70b7b18..d4a37c22d 100644
--- a/message_test.go
+++ b/message_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package sarama
 
 import (
+	"runtime"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -24,6 +25,17 @@ var (
 		0x08,
 		0, 0, 9, 110, 136, 0, 255, 1, 0, 0, 255, 255, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}
 
+	emptyGzipMessage18 = []byte{
+		132, 99, 80, 148, //CRC
+		0x00,                   // magic version byte
+		0x01,                   // attribute flags
+		0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // key
+		// value
+		0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x17,
+		0x1f, 0x8b,
+		0x08,
+		0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 255, 1, 0, 0, 255, 255, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}
+
 	emptyLZ4Message = []byte{
 		132, 219, 238, 101, // CRC
 		0x01,                          // version byte
@@ -79,7 +91,11 @@ func TestMessageEncoding(t *testing.T) {
 
 	message.Value = []byte{}
 	message.Codec = CompressionGZIP
-	testEncodable(t, "empty gzip", &message, emptyGzipMessage)
+	if runtime.Version() == "go1.8" {
+		testEncodable(t, "empty gzip", &message, emptyGzipMessage18)
+	} else {
+		testEncodable(t, "empty gzip", &message, emptyGzipMessage)
+	}
 
 	message.Value = []byte{}
 	message.Codec = CompressionLZ4