diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb b/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
index 2601e629c4..71aa1ede3e 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/dependency_collector.rb
@@ -89,12 +89,12 @@ class DependencyCollector
   end
 
   def parse_string_spec(spec, tags)
-    if tags.empty?
+    if HOMEBREW_TAP_FORMULA_REGEX === spec
+      TapDependency.new(spec, tags)
+    elsif tags.empty?
       Dependency.new(spec, tags)
     elsif (tag = tags.first) && LANGUAGE_MODULES.include?(tag)
       LanguageModuleDependency.new(tag, spec, tags[1])
-    elsif HOMEBREW_TAP_FORMULA_REGEX === spec
-      TapDependency.new(spec, tags)
     else
       Dependency.new(spec, tags)
     end