diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb b/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb
index 99f48d546c..e1cdfd8daa 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/formula_installer.rb
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ class FormulaInstaller
       install_dependencies
     end
 
+    if ARGV.build_bottle? && (arch = ARGV.bottle_arch) && !Hardware::CPU.optimization_flags.include?(arch)
+      raise "Unrecognized architecture for --bottle-arch: #{arch}"
+    end
+
     oh1 "Installing #{Tty.green}#{f}#{Tty.reset}" if show_header
 
     @@attempted << f