diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb b/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb
index eeadc70e1675c2a83809120a4e095a398e696cd2..0d1bcbddab7909ce19882ce9f46aaa70098368db 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ $:.unshift(HOMEBREW_LIBRARY_PATH.to_s)
 require "global"
 
 if ARGV == %w[--version] || ARGV == %w[-v]
-  puts "Homebrew #{Homebrew.homebrew_version_string}"
+  puts "Homebrew #{HOMEBREW_VERSION}"
   puts "Homebrew/homebrew-core #{Homebrew.core_tap_version_string}"
   exit 0
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh b/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
index e82f7098a5d546ea32b57766ec8217f95e9488e2..e4c1e700a1c3b5a34461224911a8fb882e577b58 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/brew.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-HOMEBREW_VERSION="1.0.0"
+HOMEBREW_VERSION="$(git describe --tags --dirty 2>/dev/null)"
+if [[ -z "$HOMEBREW_VERSION" ]]
+then
+  HOMEBREW_VERSION=">1.0.0 (no git repository)"
+fi
 
 onoe() {
   if [[ -t 2 ]] # check whether stderr is a tty.
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index e466f8a08dcb74632b4fc5e295e98701bc92aaaf..be629f1dfc1b5c5743aa65aec6e8c66fbc80e2e5 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -248,15 +248,6 @@ module Homebrew
     _system(cmd, *args)
   end
 
-  def self.homebrew_version_string
-    if pretty_revision = HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY.git_short_head
-      last_commit = HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY.git_last_commit_date
-      "#{HOMEBREW_VERSION} (git revision #{pretty_revision}; last commit #{last_commit})"
-    else
-      "#{HOMEBREW_VERSION} (no git repository)"
-    end
-  end
-
   def self.core_tap_version_string
     require "tap"
     tap = CoreTap.instance