diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 28567e2..80f93d4 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ require "rake/rdoctask"
 require 'spec/rake/spectask'
 require 'rake/gempackagetask'
 
+require File.join(File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__)),'lib','couchrest')
+
 spec = Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name = "couchrest"
-  s.version = "0.12.0"
+  s.version = CouchRest::VERSION
   s.date = "2008-11-22"
   s.summary = "Lean and RESTful interface to CouchDB."
   s.email = "jchris@apache.org"
diff --git a/couchrest.gemspec b/couchrest.gemspec
index bdb9adb..a87c589 100644
--- a/couchrest.gemspec
+++ b/couchrest.gemspec
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.executables = ["couchdir"]
   s.authors = ["J. Chris Anderson"]
   s.required_rubygems_version = ">= 0"
-  s.version = "0.12.0"
+  s.version = "0.12.1"
   s.files = ["LICENSE",
  "README.md",
  "Rakefile",
diff --git a/lib/couchrest.rb b/lib/couchrest.rb
index 92e666b..5011843 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest.rb
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ require 'couchrest/monkeypatches'
 
 # = CouchDB, close to the metal
 module CouchRest
+  VERSION = '0.12.1'
+  
   autoload :Server,       'couchrest/core/server'
   autoload :Database,     'couchrest/core/database'
   autoload :Document,     'couchrest/core/document'