diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cat.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cat.rb
index 15cd149d58..c7f2f4c790 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cat.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cat.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ module Homebrew
     raise "`brew cat` doesn't support multiple arguments" if args.remaining.size > 1
 
     cd HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY
-    pager = ENV["HOMEBREW_VISUAL"] || "cat"
+    pager = if ENV["HOMEBREW_BAT"].nil?
+      "cat"
+    else
+      "#{HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/bin/bat"
+    end
     safe_system pager, formulae.first.path, *Homebrew.args.passthrough
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/manpages/brew.1.md.erb b/Library/Homebrew/manpages/brew.1.md.erb
index 114a3319fa..dc8875e61d 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/manpages/brew.1.md.erb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/manpages/brew.1.md.erb
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ Note that environment variables must have a value set to be detected. For exampl
     to retrieve these access credentials from AWS). If they are not set,
     the `S3` download strategy will download with a public (unsigned) URL.
 
+  * `HOMEBREW_BAT`:
+    If set, Homebrew will use `bat` for the `brew cat` command.
+
   * `HOMEBREW_BOTTLE_DOMAIN`:
     By default, Homebrew uses `https://homebrew.bintray.com/` as its download
     mirror for bottles. If set, instructs Homebrew to instead use the specified
diff --git a/docs/Manpage.md b/docs/Manpage.md
index e813202421..15e0c8323a 100644
--- a/docs/Manpage.md
+++ b/docs/Manpage.md
@@ -1077,6 +1077,9 @@ Note that environment variables must have a value set to be detected. For exampl
     to retrieve these access credentials from AWS). If they are not set,
     the `S3` download strategy will download with a public (unsigned) URL.
 
+  * `HOMEBREW_BAT`:
+    If set, Homebrew will use `bat` for the `brew cat` command.
+
   * `HOMEBREW_BOTTLE_DOMAIN`:
     By default, Homebrew uses `https://homebrew.bintray.com/` as its download
     mirror for bottles. If set, instructs Homebrew to instead use the specified
diff --git a/manpages/brew.1 b/manpages/brew.1
index 65c6a12013..3f68e32c24 100644
--- a/manpages/brew.1
+++ b/manpages/brew.1
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
 .\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
 .
-.TH "BREW" "1" "September 2019" "Homebrew" "brew"
+.TH "BREW" "1" "October 2019" "Homebrew" "brew"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBbrew\fR \- The missing package manager for macOS
@@ -1336,6 +1336,10 @@ If set, Homebrew will only check for autoupdates once per this seconds interval\
 When using the \fBS3\fR download strategy, Homebrew will look in these variables for access credentials (see \fIhttps://docs\.aws\.amazon\.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli\-chap\-getting\-started\.html#cli\-environment\fR to retrieve these access credentials from AWS)\. If they are not set, the \fBS3\fR download strategy will download with a public (unsigned) URL\.
 .
 .TP
+\fBHOMEBREW_BAT\fR
+If set, Homebrew will use \fBbat\fR for the \fBbrew cat\fR command\.
+.
+.TP
 \fBHOMEBREW_BOTTLE_DOMAIN\fR
 By default, Homebrew uses \fBhttps://homebrew\.bintray\.com/\fR as its download mirror for bottles\. If set, instructs Homebrew to instead use the specified URL\. For example, \fBHOMEBREW_BOTTLE_DOMAIN=http://localhost:8080\fR will cause all bottles to download from the prefix \fBhttp://localhost:8080/\fR\.
 .