diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/caching.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/caching.rb
index d04979644bcdbcc1057b06e7855d6db5da114d3c..9ca0fa53dffab5a47bbb609b82b8b8e9e3d73a6c 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/caching.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/caching.rb
@@ -485,6 +485,7 @@ def initialize(address = 'druby://localhost:9192')
         end
       end
 
+    begin
       require_library_or_gem 'memcache'
       class MemCacheStore < MemoryStore #:nodoc:
         attr_reader :addresses
@@ -497,6 +498,9 @@ def initialize(*addresses)
           @data = MemCache.new(*addresses)
         end
       end
+    rescue LoadError
+      # MemCache wasn't available so neither can the store be
+    end
 
       class UnthreadedFileStore #:nodoc:
         attr_reader :cache_path