diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index 3e028949b1..d22ab9550f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -541,10 +541,13 @@ end
 # it lets you use a private GttHub repository for internal distribution.  It
 # works with public one, but in that case simply use CurlDownloadStrategy.
 class GitHubPrivateRepositoryDownloadStrategy < CurlDownloadStrategy
+  require "utils/formatter"
+  require 'utils/github'
+
   def initialize(name, resource)
     super
-    set_github_token
     parse_url_pattern
+    set_github_token
   end
 
   def parse_url_pattern
@@ -571,6 +574,22 @@ class GitHubPrivateRepositoryDownloadStrategy < CurlDownloadStrategy
     unless @github_token
       raise CurlDownloadStrategyError, "Environmental variable HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN is required."
     end
+    validate_github_repository_access!
+  end
+
+  def validate_github_repository_access!
+    begin
+      # Test access to the repository
+      GitHub.repository(@owner, @repo)
+    rescue GitHub::HTTPNotFoundError
+      # We only handle HTTPNotFoundError here,
+      # becase AuthenticationFailedError is handled within util/github.
+      message = <<-EOS.undent
+        HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN can not access the repository: #{@owner}/#{@repo}
+        This token may not have permission to access the repository or the url of formula may be incorrect.
+      EOS
+      raise CurlDownloadStrategyError, message
+    end
   end
 end
 
@@ -580,9 +599,6 @@ end
 # of your formula. This download strategy uses GitHub access tokens (in the
 # environment variables HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN) to sign the request.
 class GitHubPrivateRepositoryReleaseDownloadStrategy < GitHubPrivateRepositoryDownloadStrategy
-  require "utils/formatter"
-  require 'utils/github'
-
   def parse_url_pattern
     url_pattern = %r|https://github.com/([^/]+)/([^/]+)/releases/download/([^/]+)/(\S+)|
     unless @url =~ url_pattern
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/download_strategies_test.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/download_strategies_test.rb
index 21f7e6906f..ff4cbbf7aa 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/download_strategies_test.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/download_strategies_test.rb
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ class GitHubPrivateRepositoryDownloadStrategyTests < Homebrew::TestCase
   def setup
     resource = ResourceDouble.new("https://github.com/owner/repo/archive/1.1.5.tar.gz")
     ENV["HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN"] = "token"
+    GitHub.stubs(:repository).returns {}
     @strategy = GitHubPrivateRepositoryDownloadStrategy.new("foo", resource)
   end
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ class GitHubPrivateRepositoryReleaseDownloadStrategyTests < Homebrew::TestCase
   def setup
     resource = ResourceDouble.new("https://github.com/owner/repo/releases/download/tag/foo_v0.1.0_darwin_amd64.tar.gz")
     ENV["HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN"] = "token"
+    GitHub.stubs(:repository).returns {}
     @strategy = GitHubPrivateRepositoryReleaseDownloadStrategy.new("foo", resource)
   end