diff --git a/check_elasticsearch b/check_elasticsearch
index a1d39a2..d034040 100755
--- a/check_elasticsearch
+++ b/check_elasticsearch
@@ -614,6 +614,9 @@ def get_json(uri):
 def version(version_string):
     """Accept a typical version string (ex: 1.0.1) and return a tuple
     of ints, allowing for reasonable comparison."""
+    dash = version_string.find('-')
+    if dash != -1:
+        version_string = version_string[0:dash]
     return tuple([int(i) for i in version_string.split('.')])