diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index f63ed98a32..8b6f95525c 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ class GitDownloadStrategy < AbstractDownloadStrategy
         case @spec
         when :branch
           nostdout { quiet_safe_system 'git', 'checkout', "origin/#{@ref}" }
-        when :tag
+        when :tag, :sha
           nostdout { quiet_safe_system 'git', 'checkout', @ref }
         end
       else