diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e9338ed98d..0e6dbb71ec 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ Main (unreleased)
 - Fix an issue on Windows where uninstalling Alloy did not remove it from the
   Add/Remove programs list. (@rfratto)
 
-
 - Fixed issue where text labels displayed outside of component node's boundary. (@hainenber)
 
+- In `mimir.rules.kubernetes`, fix an issue where unrecoverable errors from the Mimir API were retried. (@56quarters)
+
 v1.0.0 (2024-04-09)
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/internal/component/mimir/rules/kubernetes/events.go b/internal/component/mimir/rules/kubernetes/events.go
index 471c12b28c..aa7f91de88 100644
--- a/internal/component/mimir/rules/kubernetes/events.go
+++ b/internal/component/mimir/rules/kubernetes/events.go
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@ package rules
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/alloy/logging/level"
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/component/common/kubernetes"
+	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/mimir/client"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
 	promv1 "github.com/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator/pkg/apis/monitoring/v1"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/rulefmt"
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ func (c *Component) eventLoop(ctx context.Context) {
 
 		if err != nil {
 			retries := c.queue.NumRequeues(evt)
-			if retries < 5 {
+			if retries < 5 && !errors.Is(err, client.ErrUnrecoverable) {
 				c.metrics.eventsRetried.WithLabelValues(string(evt.Typ)).Inc()
 				c.queue.AddRateLimited(evt)
 				level.Error(c.log).Log(
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ func (c *Component) eventLoop(ctx context.Context) {
 			} else {
 				c.metrics.eventsFailed.WithLabelValues(string(evt.Typ)).Inc()
 				level.Error(c.log).Log(
-					"msg", "failed to process event, max retries exceeded",
+					"msg", "failed to process event, unrecoverable error or max retries exceeded",
 					"retries", fmt.Sprintf("%d/5", retries),
 					"err", err,
 				)
diff --git a/internal/mimir/client/client.go b/internal/mimir/client/client.go
index b3f86bf46b..f72029ea89 100644
--- a/internal/mimir/client/client.go
+++ b/internal/mimir/client/client.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
 
-	log "github.com/go-kit/log"
+	"github.com/go-kit/log"
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/mimir/client/internal"
 	"github.com/grafana/alloy/internal/useragent"
 	"github.com/grafana/dskit/instrument"
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 var (
 	ErrNoConfig         = errors.New("no config exists for this user")
 	ErrResourceNotFound = errors.New("requested resource not found")
+	ErrUnrecoverable    = errors.New("unrecoverable error response")
 )
 
 // Config is used to configure a MimirClient.
@@ -125,6 +126,8 @@ func checkResponse(r *http.Response) error {
 
 	if r.StatusCode == http.StatusNotFound {
 		return ErrResourceNotFound
+	} else if r.StatusCode/100 == 4 && r.StatusCode != http.StatusTooManyRequests {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnrecoverable, errMsg)
 	}
 
 	return errors.New(errMsg)
diff --git a/internal/mimir/client/client_test.go b/internal/mimir/client/client_test.go
index 262e9918a9..d67a3256d5 100644
--- a/internal/mimir/client/client_test.go
+++ b/internal/mimir/client/client_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package client
 
 import (
+	"errors"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -99,3 +102,83 @@ func TestBuildURL(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestCheckResponseSuccess(t *testing.T) {
+	tc := []struct {
+		name       string
+		body       string
+		statusCode int
+	}{
+		{
+			name:       "returns nil error for 200 response",
+			body:       "200 message!",
+			statusCode: http.StatusOK,
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "returns nil error for 204 response",
+			body:       "",
+			statusCode: http.StatusNoContent,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tc {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			response := &http.Response{
+				Status:     http.StatusText(tt.statusCode),
+				StatusCode: tt.statusCode,
+				Body:       io.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(tt.body)),
+			}
+
+			err := checkResponse(response)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCheckResponseErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	tc := []struct {
+		name       string
+		body       string
+		statusCode int
+		fatal      bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:       "returns correct error for 400 response",
+			body:       "400 message!",
+			statusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
+			fatal:      true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "returns correct error for 404 response",
+			body:       "404 message!",
+			statusCode: 404,
+			fatal:      false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "returns correct error for 429 response",
+			body:       "429 message!",
+			statusCode: http.StatusTooManyRequests,
+			fatal:      false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "returns correct error for 500 response",
+			body:       "500 message!",
+			statusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			fatal:      false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tc {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			response := &http.Response{
+				Status:     http.StatusText(tt.statusCode),
+				StatusCode: tt.statusCode,
+				Body:       io.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(tt.body)),
+			}
+
+			err := checkResponse(response)
+			require.Error(t, err)
+			require.Equal(t, tt.fatal, errors.Is(err, ErrUnrecoverable), "%+v is not expected recoverable/unrecoverable", err)
+		})
+	}
+}