diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/hardware.rb b/Library/Homebrew/hardware.rb
index 3059f0875baca45df10cd7847f3924984ace44b5..18d4e6665425cf75380059ae135324d335daf23f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/hardware.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/hardware.rb
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ class Hardware
     @@processor_count ||= `/usr/sbin/sysctl -n hw.ncpu`.to_i
   end
 
+  def self.is_64_bit?
+    self.sysctl_bool("hw.cpu64bit_capable")
+  end
+
 protected
   def self.sysctl_bool(property)
     result = nil