diff --git a/object-cache.php b/object-cache.php
index 3dfc032..7fb261e 100644
--- a/object-cache.php
+++ b/object-cache.php
@@ -714,7 +714,21 @@ protected function _connect_redis() {
 		$port = ! empty( $redis_server['port'] ) ? $redis_server['port'] : 6379;
 		$this->redis->connect( $redis_server['host'], $port, 1, NULL, 100 ); # 1s timeout, 100ms delay between reconnections
 		if ( ! empty( $redis_server['auth'] ) ) {
-			$this->redis->auth( $redis_server['auth'] );
+			try {
+				$this->redis->auth( $redis_server['auth'] );
+			// PhpRedis throws an Exception when it fails a server call.
+			// To prevent WordPress from fataling, we catch the Exception.
+			} catch ( RedisException $e ) {
+				try {
+					$this->last_triggered_error = 'WP Redis: ' . $e->getMessage();
+					// Be friendly to developers debugging production servers by triggering an error
+					trigger_error( $this->last_triggered_error, E_USER_WARNING );
+				} catch( PHPUnit_Framework_Error_Warning $e ) {
+					// PHPUnit throws an Exception when `trigger_error()` is called.
+					// To ensure our tests (which expect Exceptions to be caught) continue to run,
+					// we catch the PHPUnit exception and inspect the RedisException message
+				}
+			}
 		}
 		$this->is_redis_connected = $this->redis->isConnected();
 		if ( ! $this->is_redis_connected ) {
@@ -740,15 +754,20 @@ protected function _call_redis( $method ) {
 			try {
 				$retval = call_user_func_array( array( $this->redis, $method ), $arguments );
 				return $retval;
+			// PhpRedis throws an Exception when it fails a server call.
+			// To prevent WordPress from fataling, we catch the Exception.
 			} catch( RedisException $e ) {
 				$retry_exception_messages = array( 'socket error on read socket', 'Connection closed', 'Redis server went away' );
 				$retry_exception_messages = apply_filters( 'wp_redis_retry_exception_messages', $retry_exception_messages );
 				if ( in_array( $e->getMessage(), $retry_exception_messages ) ) {
 					try {
 						$this->last_triggered_error = 'WP Redis: ' . $e->getMessage();
+						// Be friendly to developers debugging production servers by triggering an error
 						trigger_error( $this->last_triggered_error, E_USER_WARNING );
 					} catch( PHPUnit_Framework_Error_Warning $e ) {
-						// We'll inspect this in the test
+						// PHPUnit throws an Exception when `trigger_error()` is called.
+						// To ensure our tests (which expect Exceptions to be caught) continue to run,
+						// we catch the PHPUnit exception and inspect the RedisException message
 					}
 					// Attempt to refresh the connection if it was successfully established once
 					// $this->is_redis_connected will be set inside _connect_redis()
diff --git a/tests/test-cache.php b/tests/test-cache.php
index dae7e47..97c0d12 100644
--- a/tests/test-cache.php
+++ b/tests/test-cache.php
@@ -87,6 +87,22 @@ public function test_redis_reload_force_cache_flush() {
 		$this->assertEquals( "SELECT option_value FROM {$wpdb->options} WHERE option_name='wp_redis_do_redis_failback_flush'", $wpdb->last_query );
 	}
 
+	public function test_redis_bad_authentication() {
+		global $redis_server;
+		if ( ! class_exists( 'Redis' ) ) {
+			$this->markTestSkipped( 'PHPRedis extension not available.' );
+		}
+		$redis_server['host'] = '127.0.0.1';
+		$redis_server['port'] = 9999;
+		$redis_server['auth'] = 'foobar';
+		$cache = new WP_Object_Cache;
+		$this->assertEquals( 'WP Redis: Redis server went away', $cache->last_triggered_error );
+		$this->assertFalse( $cache->is_redis_connected );
+		// Fails back to the internal object cache
+		$cache->set( 'foo', 'bar' );
+		$this->assertEquals( 'bar', $cache->get( 'foo' ) );
+	}
+
 	function test_miss() {
 		$this->assertEquals(NULL, $this->cache->get(rand_str()));
 	}