diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8c74686..f4e3e53 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Change Log
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file, from 0.2.0.
 
+## [0.3.1] = 2016-08-28
+  - Adds connection_test configuration option, to prevent the connection test from occuring, allowing the error to be suppressed.
+    Useful for cockroachdb deployments. https://github.com/theangryangel/logstash-output-jdbc/issues/53 
+
 ## [0.3.0] - 2016-07-24
   - Brings tests from v5 branch, providing greater coverage
   - Removes bulk update support, due to inconsistent behaviour
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2eaa0b1..9bc690b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ For development:
 | driver_auto_commit | Boolean | If the driver does not support auto commit, you should set this to false | No | True |
 | driver_jar_path | String | File path to jar file containing your JDBC driver. This is optional, and all JDBC jars may be placed in $LOGSTASH_HOME/vendor/jar/jdbc instead. | No | |
 | connection_string | String | JDBC connection URL | Yes | |
+| connection_test | Boolean | Run a JDBC connection test. Some drivers do not function correctly, and you may need to disable the connection test to supress an error. Cockroach with the postgres JDBC driver is such an example. | No | Yes |
 | username | String | JDBC username - this is optional as it may be included in the connection string, for many drivers | No | |
 | password | String | JDBC password - this is optional as it may be included in the connection string, for many drivers | No | |
 | statement | Array | An array of strings representing the SQL statement to run. Index 0 is the SQL statement that is prepared, all other array entries are passed in as parameters (in order). A parameter may either be a property of the event (i.e. "@timestamp", or "host") or a formatted string (i.e. "%{host} - %{message}" or "%{message}"). If a key is passed then it will be automatically converted as required for insertion into SQL. If it's a formatted string then it will be passed in verbatim. | Yes |  |
diff --git a/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb b/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
index 8306aac..49037ae 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/outputs/jdbc.rb
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Jdbc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
   # Suitable for configuring retryable custom JDBC SQL state codes.
   config :retry_sql_states, validate: :array, default: []
 
+  # Run a connection test on start.
+  config :connection_test, validate: :boolean, default: true
+
   # Maximum number of sequential failed attempts, before we stop retrying.
   # If set to < 1, then it will infinitely retry.
   # At the default values this is a little over 10 minutes
@@ -148,10 +151,12 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Jdbc < LogStash::Outputs::Base
 
     validate_connection_timeout = (@connection_timeout / 1000) / 2
 
+    return unless @connection_test
+
     # Test connection
     test_connection = @pool.getConnection
     unless test_connection.isValid(validate_connection_timeout)
-      @logger.error('JDBC - Connection is not valid. Please check connection string or that your JDBC endpoint is available.')
+      @logger.error('JDBC - Connection is not reporting as validate. Either connection is invalid, or driver is not getting the appropriate response.')
     end
     test_connection.close
   end
diff --git a/logstash-output-jdbc.gemspec b/logstash-output-jdbc.gemspec
index 02722f7..b4876d3 100644
--- a/logstash-output-jdbc.gemspec
+++ b/logstash-output-jdbc.gemspec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name = 'logstash-output-jdbc'
-  s.version = "0.3.0"
+  s.version = "0.3.1"
   s.licenses = [ "Apache License (2.0)" ]
   s.summary = "This plugin allows you to output to SQL, via JDBC"
   s.description = "This gem is a logstash plugin required to be installed on top of the Logstash core pipeline using $LS_HOME/bin/plugin install gemname. This gem is not a stand-alone program"