diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a0cf52b..730ea3f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 .rbenv-version
+.bundle
diff --git a/lib/capistrano/deploy_tags.rb b/lib/capistrano/deploy_tags.rb
index 0febdca..7ba2c4a 100644
--- a/lib/capistrano/deploy_tags.rb
+++ b/lib/capistrano/deploy_tags.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ module Capistrano
       exists?(:git_remote) ? git_remote : `git remote`.strip.split(/\n/).first
     end
 
+    def commit_message(current_sha)
+      if exists?(:deploytag_commit_message)
+        deploytag_commit_message
+      else
+        tag_user = (ENV['USER'] || ENV['USERNAME'] || 'deployer').strip
+        "#{tag_user} deployed #{current_sha} to #{stage}"
+      end
+    end
+
     def self.load_into(configuration)
       configuration.load do
         before 'deploy', 'git:prepare_tree'
@@ -78,8 +87,7 @@ module Capistrano
             current_sha = `git rev-parse #{branch} HEAD`.strip[0..8]
             logger.log Capistrano::Logger::INFO, "Tagging #{current_sha} for deployment"
 
-            tag_user = (ENV['USER'] || ENV['USERNAME']).strip
-            cdt.safe_run 'git', 'tag', '-a', cdt.git_tag_for(stage), '-m', "#{tag_user} deployed #{current_sha} to #{stage}"
+            cdt.safe_run 'git', 'tag', '-a', cdt.git_tag_for(stage), '-m', cdt.commit_message(current_sha)
             cdt.safe_run 'git', 'push', '--tags' if cdt.has_remote?
           end
         end
diff --git a/spec/capistrano_deploy_tags_spec.rb b/spec/capistrano_deploy_tags_spec.rb
index f27d21c..7006ab4 100644
--- a/spec/capistrano_deploy_tags_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/capistrano_deploy_tags_spec.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ describe Capistrano::DeployTags do
     FileUtils.rm_rf tmpdir
     FileUtils.mkdir tmpdir
     FileUtils.chdir tmpdir
-    raise unless system("/usr/bin/tar xzf #{File.join(mypath, 'fixtures', 'git-fixture.tar.gz')}")
+    raise unless system("`which tar` xzf #{File.join(mypath, 'fixtures', 'git-fixture.tar.gz')}")
     FileUtils.chdir "#{tmpdir}/git-fixture"
     yield
     FileUtils.rm_rf tmpdir
@@ -135,5 +135,15 @@ describe Capistrano::DeployTags do
         tags.first.should =~ /^test-\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/
       end
     end
+
+    it 'supports configurable commit messages' do
+      with_clean_repo do
+        configuration.set(:deploytag_commit_message, 'This is my custom commit message')
+        configuration.find_and_execute_task('git:tagdeploy')
+        tags = `git tag -l -n40`.split(/\n/)
+        tags.should have(1).items
+        tags.first.should =~ /This is my custom commit message/
+      end
+    end
   end
 end