diff --git a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
index db1b37939e..cddf084359 100644
--- a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
+++ b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
@@ -336,6 +336,9 @@ creating your own can be found on the wiki:
     This can be used to keep downloads out of your home folder, if you have
     it mounted on an SSD or are using FileVault for instance.
 
+  * HOMEBREW\_CURL\_VERBOSE:
+    If set, Homebrew will pass `--verbose` when invoking `curl`(1).
+
   * HOMEBREW\_DEBUG:
     If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume `--debug` when running
     commands.
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index 8eca952de9..df23c13871 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ def curl *args
   args = [HOMEBREW_CURL_ARGS, HOMEBREW_USER_AGENT, *args]
   # See https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew/issues/6103
   args << "--insecure" if MacOS.version < 10.6
+  args << "--verbose" if ENV['HOMEBREW_CURL_VERBOSE']
 
   safe_system curl, *args
 end
diff --git a/share/man/man1/brew.1 b/share/man/man1/brew.1
index c799be8c54..9df767f88b 100644
--- a/share/man/man1/brew.1
+++ b/share/man/man1/brew.1
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
 .\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
 .
-.TH "BREW" "1" "November 2011" "Homebrew" "brew"
+.TH "BREW" "1" "December 2011" "Homebrew" "brew"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBbrew\fR \- The missing package manager for OS X
@@ -376,6 +376,10 @@ If set, instructs Homebrew to use the give folder as the download cache\. Otherw
 This can be used to keep downloads out of your home folder, if you have it mounted on an SSD or are using FileVault for instance\.
 .
 .TP
+HOMEBREW_CURL_VERBOSE
+If set, Homebrew will pass \fB\-\-verbose\fR when invoking \fBcurl\fR(1)\.
+.
+.TP
 HOMEBREW_DEBUG
 If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume \fB\-\-debug\fR when running commands\.
 .