diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Memcache.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Memcache.php
index e83835ed439906c7f837a66510c2cdfbc09927c3..11cf3b5873a8471676cc480737018216b9412fb8 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Memcache.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Memcache.php
@@ -249,12 +249,13 @@ class SimpleSAML_Memcache {
 	 * @return A Memcache object of the servers in the group.
 	 */
 	private static function loadMemcacheServerGroup(array $group) {
+
+		if(!class_exists('Memcache')) {
+			throw new Exception('Missing Memcache class. Is the memcache extension installed?');
+		}
+
 		/* Create the Memcache object. */
 		$memcache = new Memcache();
-		if($memcache == NULL) {
-			throw new Exception('Unable to create an instance of a Memcache object.' .
-				' Is the memcache extension installed?');
-		}
 
 		/* Iterate over all the servers in the group and add them to the Memcache object. */
 		foreach($group as $index => $server) {