diff --git a/distribution/bwc/build.gradle b/distribution/bwc/build.gradle
index 2a581cf1480..8285d8dae2b 100644
--- a/distribution/bwc/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/bwc/build.gradle
@@ -120,46 +120,8 @@ bwcVersions.forPreviousUnreleased { BwcVersions.UnreleasedVersionInfo unreleased
         }
     }
 
-    Map<String, File> artifactFiles = [:]
-    List<String> projectDirs = []
-    List<String> projects = ['deb', 'rpm']
-    if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0')) {
-      projects.addAll(['windows-zip', 'darwin-tar', 'linux-tar'])
-    } else {
-      projects.add('zip')
-    }
-
-    for (String projectName : projects) {
-        String baseDir = "distribution"
-        String classifier = ""
-        String extension = projectName
-        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && (projectName.contains('zip') || projectName.contains('tar'))) {
-          int index = projectName.indexOf('-')
-          classifier = "-${projectName.substring(0, index)}-x86_64"
-          extension = projectName.substring(index + 1)
-          if (extension.equals('tar')) {
-            extension += '.gz'
-          }
-        }
-        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && projectName.contains('deb')) {
-          classifier = "-amd64"
-        }
-        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && projectName.contains('rpm')) {
-          classifier = "-x86_64"
-        }
-        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('6.3.0')) {
-            baseDir += projectName.endsWith('zip') || projectName.endsWith('tar') ? '/archives' : '/packages'
-            // add oss variant first
-            projectDirs.add("${baseDir}/oss-${projectName}")
-            artifactFiles.put("oss-" + projectName, file("${checkoutDir}/${baseDir}/oss-${projectName}/build/distributions/elasticsearch-oss-${bwcVersion}-SNAPSHOT${classifier}.${extension}"))
-        }
-        projectDirs.add("${baseDir}/${projectName}")
-        artifactFiles.put(projectName,
-                file("${checkoutDir}/${baseDir}/${projectName}/build/distributions/elasticsearch-${bwcVersion}-SNAPSHOT${classifier}.${extension}"))
-    }
-    
     Closure createRunBwcGradleTask = { name, extraConfig ->
-        task "$name"(type: Exec) {
+        return tasks.create(name: "$name", type: Exec) {
             dependsOn checkoutBwcBranch, writeBuildMetadata
             workingDir = checkoutDir
             doFirst {
@@ -217,28 +179,75 @@ bwcVersions.forPreviousUnreleased { BwcVersions.UnreleasedVersionInfo unreleased
         }
     }
 
-    createRunBwcGradleTask("buildBwcVersion") {
-        for (String dir : projectDirs) {
-            args ":${dir.replace('/', ':')}:assemble"
-        }
-        doLast {
-            List missing = artifactFiles.values().grep { file ->
-                false == file.exists()
-            }
-            if (false == missing.empty) {
-                throw new InvalidUserDataException("Building ${bwcVersion} didn't generate expected files ${missing}")
-            }
-        }
+    Closure buildBwcTaskName = { projectName -> 
+      return "buildBwc${projectName.replaceAll(/-\w/){ it[1].toUpperCase() }.capitalize()}"
     }
 
+    task buildBwc {}
+
+    Closure createBuildBwcTask = { projectName, projectDir, projectArtifact ->
+        Task bwcTask = createRunBwcGradleTask(buildBwcTaskName(projectName)) {
+            args ":${projectDir.replace('/', ':')}:assemble"
+            doLast {
+                if (projectArtifact.exists() == false) {
+                    throw new InvalidUserDataException("Building ${bwcVersion} didn't generate expected file ${projectArtifact}")
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        buildBwc.dependsOn bwcTask
+    }
+
+    Map<String, File> artifactFiles = [:]
+    List<String> projectDirs = []
+    List<String> projects = ['deb', 'rpm']
+    if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0')) {
+      projects.addAll(['windows-zip', 'darwin-tar', 'linux-tar'])
+    } else {
+      projects.add('zip')
+    }
+
+    for (String projectName : projects) {
+        String baseDir = "distribution"
+        String classifier = ""
+        String extension = projectName
+        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && (projectName.contains('zip') || projectName.contains('tar'))) {
+          int index = projectName.indexOf('-')
+          classifier = "-${projectName.substring(0, index)}-x86_64"
+          extension = projectName.substring(index + 1)
+          if (extension.equals('tar')) {
+            extension += '.gz'
+          }
+        }
+        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && projectName.contains('deb')) {
+          classifier = "-amd64"
+        }
+        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('7.0.0') && projectName.contains('rpm')) {
+          classifier = "-x86_64"
+        }
+        if (bwcVersion.onOrAfter('6.3.0')) {
+            baseDir += projectName.endsWith('zip') || projectName.endsWith('tar') ? '/archives' : '/packages'
+            // add oss variant first
+            projectDirs.add("${baseDir}/oss-${projectName}")
+            File ossProjectArtifact = file("${checkoutDir}/${baseDir}/oss-${projectName}/build/distributions/elasticsearch-oss-${bwcVersion}-SNAPSHOT${classifier}.${extension}")
+            artifactFiles.put("oss-" + projectName, ossProjectArtifact)
+            createBuildBwcTask("oss-${projectName}", "${baseDir}/oss-${projectName}", ossProjectArtifact)
+        }
+        projectDirs.add("${baseDir}/${projectName}")
+        File projectArtifact = file("${checkoutDir}/${baseDir}/${projectName}/build/distributions/elasticsearch-${bwcVersion}-SNAPSHOT${classifier}.${extension}")
+        artifactFiles.put(projectName, projectArtifact)
+                
+        createBuildBwcTask(projectName, "${baseDir}/${projectName}", projectArtifact)
+    }
+    
+
     createRunBwcGradleTask("resolveAllBwcDependencies") {
         args 'resolveAllDependencies'
     }
-
     resolveAllDependencies.dependsOn resolveAllBwcDependencies
 
     for (e in artifactFiles) {
         String projectName = e.key
+        String buildBwcTask = buildBwcTaskName(projectName)
         File artifactFile = e.value
         String artifactFileName = artifactFile.name
         String artifactName = artifactFileName.contains('oss') ? 'elasticsearch-oss' : 'elasticsearch'
@@ -251,7 +260,7 @@ bwcVersions.forPreviousUnreleased { BwcVersions.UnreleasedVersionInfo unreleased
         }
         configurations.create(projectName)
         artifacts {
-            it.add(projectName, [file: artifactFile, name: artifactName, classifier: classifier, type: suffix, builtBy: buildBwcVersion])
+            it.add(projectName, [file: artifactFile, name: artifactName, classifier: classifier, type: suffix, builtBy: buildBwcTask])
         }
     }
     // make sure no dependencies were added to assemble; we want it to be a no-op