diff --git a/ansible/group_vars/all.yml b/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
index d456d0a122..9951832418 100644
--- a/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
+++ b/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
@@ -541,11 +541,10 @@ enable_nova: "{{ enable_openstack_core | bool }}"
 enable_rabbitmq: "{{ 'yes' if om_rpc_transport == 'rabbit' or om_notify_transport == 'rabbit' else 'no' }}"
 enable_outward_rabbitmq: "{{ enable_murano | bool }}"
 
-# Most memcache clients handle load-balancing via client side
+# NOTE: Most memcached clients handle load-balancing via client side
 # hashing (consistent or not) logic, so going under the covers and messing
-# with things that the clients are not aware of is general wrong (but this
-# keeps the default as is...)
-enable_haproxy_memcached: "yes"
+# with things that the clients are not aware of is generally wrong
+enable_haproxy_memcached: "no"
 
 # Additional optional OpenStack features and services are specified here
 enable_aodh: "no"
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/do-not-haproxy-memcached-by-default-4676a56524922c8f.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/do-not-haproxy-memcached-by-default-4676a56524922c8f.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3880294e68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/do-not-haproxy-memcached-by-default-4676a56524922c8f.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    Changes default value of ``enable_haproxy_memcached`` to ``no``.
+    Memcached has not been accessed via haproxy since at least
+    the Rocky release. Users depending on haproxy for memcached
+    for other software may want to change this back to ``yes``.