diff --git a/lib/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnection.php b/lib/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnection.php
index 108802e3..c495a89c 100644
--- a/lib/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnection.php
+++ b/lib/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnection.php
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ class PhpiredisSocketConnection extends AbstractConnection
      * @param  ParametersInterface $parameters Parameters used to initialize the connection.
      * @return string
      */
-    private static function getAddress(ParametersInterface $parameters)
+    protected static function getAddress(ParametersInterface $parameters)
     {
         if ($parameters->scheme === 'unix') {
             return $parameters->path;
@@ -238,8 +238,8 @@ class PhpiredisSocketConnection extends AbstractConnection
         $host = $parameters->host;
 
         if (ip2long($host) === false) {
-            if (($addresses = gethostbynamel($host)) === false) {
-                $this->onConnectionError("Cannot resolve the address of '$host'.");
+            if (false === $addresses = gethostbynamel($host)) {
+                return false;
             }
 
             return $addresses[array_rand($addresses)];
@@ -256,7 +256,10 @@ class PhpiredisSocketConnection extends AbstractConnection
      */
     private function connectWithTimeout(ParametersInterface $parameters)
     {
-        $host = self::getAddress($parameters);
+        if (false === $host = self::getAddress($parameters)) {
+            $this->onConnectionError("Cannot resolve the address of '$parameters->host'.");
+        }
+
         $socket = $this->getResource();
 
         socket_set_nonblock($socket);
diff --git a/tests/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnectionTest.php b/tests/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnectionTest.php
index 53e3fadc..acf33bdc 100644
--- a/tests/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnectionTest.php
+++ b/tests/Predis/Connection/PhpiredisSocketConnectionTest.php
@@ -86,6 +86,18 @@ class PhpiredisSocketConnectionTest extends PredisConnectionTestCase
         $this->assertSame(array('foo', 'hoge', 'lol'), $connection->executeCommand($cmdLrange));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @group connected
+     * @expectedException Predis\Connection\ConnectionException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage Cannot resolve the address of 'bogus.tld'.
+     */
+    public function testThrowsExceptionOnUnresolvableHostname()
+    {
+        $parameters = $this->getParameters(array('host' => 'bogus.tld'));
+        $connection = new PhpiredisSocketConnection($parameters);
+        $connection->connect();
+    }
+
     /**
      * @group connected
      * @expectedException Predis\Protocol\ProtocolException