diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 744e9bab..3f1dae70 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -894,4 +894,4 @@ Ravel is designed for horizontal scaling, and helps you avoid common pitfalls wh
 
 It is strongly encouraged that you containerize your Ravel app using an [Alpine-based docker container](https://hub.docker.com/r/mhart/alpine-node/), and then explore technologies such as [docker-compose](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-compose) or [kubernetes](http://kubernetes.io/) to appropriately scale out and link to (at least) the [official redis container](https://hub.docker.com/_/redis/). An example project with a reference `docker-compose` environment for Ravel is forthcoming, but for now please refer to the [nom project](https://github.com/nomjs/nomjs-registry) as a current example.
 
-Ravel does not explicitly require [hiredis](https://github.com/redis/hiredis-node), but is is highly recommended that you install it alongside Ravel for improved performance.
+Ravel does not explicitly require [hiredis](https://github.com/redis/hiredis-node), but is is highly recommended that you install it alongside Ravel for improved redis performance.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bd4820ab..be069ab9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ravel",
-  "version": "0.17.3",
+  "version": "0.17.4",
   "author": "Sean McIntyre <s.mcintyre@xverba.ca>",
   "description": "Ravel Rapid Application Development Framework",
   "engines": {
@@ -58,9 +58,6 @@
     "redis":"2.5.3",
     "upath": "0.1.7"
   },
-  "optionalDependencies": {
-    "hiredis":">=0.5.0"
-  },
   "devDependencies": {
     "async":"1.5.2",
     "chai":"3.5.0",