diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index c48671feb7..f8085ac8f1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -121,9 +121,9 @@ module Homebrew
   end
 
   def self.install_gem_setup_path! gem
-    return if quiet_system "gem", "list", "--installed", gem
     require "rubygems"
     ENV["PATH"] = "#{Gem.user_dir}/bin:#{ENV["PATH"]}"
+    return if quiet_system "gem", "list", "--installed", gem
     system "gem", "install", "--no-ri", "--no-rdoc",
            "--user-install", gem
   end