diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/version.rb b/Library/Homebrew/version.rb
index 45b0594e33..efd7e36535 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/version.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/version.rb
@@ -118,20 +118,12 @@ class Version
       spec.stem
     end
 
-    # GitHub tarballs, e.g. v1.2.3
-    m = %r[github.com/.+/(?:zip|tar)ball/v?((\d+\.)+\d+)$].match(spec_s)
-    return m.captures.first unless m.nil?
-
+    # GitHub tarballs
+    # e.g. https://github.com/foo/bar/tarball/v1.2.3
     # e.g. https://github.com/sam-github/libnet/tarball/libnet-1.1.4
-    m = %r[github.com/.+/(?:zip|tar)ball/.*-((\d+\.)+\d+)$].match(spec_s)
-    return m.captures.first unless m.nil?
-
     # e.g. https://github.com/isaacs/npm/tarball/v0.2.5-1
-    m = %r[github.com/.+/(?:zip|tar)ball/v?((\d+\.)+\d+-(\d+))$].match(spec_s)
-    return m.captures.first unless m.nil?
-
     # e.g. https://github.com/petdance/ack/tarball/1.93_02
-    m = %r[github.com/.+/(?:zip|tar)ball/v?((\d+\.)+\d+_(\d+))$].match(spec_s)
+    m = %r[github.com/.+/(?:zip|tar)ball/(?:v|\w+-)?((?:\d+[-._])+\d*)$].match(spec_s)
     return m.captures.first unless m.nil?
 
     # e.g. https://github.com/erlang/otp/tarball/OTP_R15B01 (erlang style)