diff --git a/lib/logstash/outputs/statsd.rb b/lib/logstash/outputs/statsd.rb
index 81e9507e5..861be30fb 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/outputs/statsd.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/outputs/statsd.rb
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Statsd < LogStash::Outputs::Base
   # A set metric. metric_name => string to append as hash
   config :set, :validate => :hash, :default => {}
 
+  # A gauge metric. metric_name => gauge as hash
+  config :gauge, :validate => :hash, :default => {}
+  
   # The sample rate for the metric
   config :sample_rate, :validate => :number, :default => 1
 
@@ -97,6 +100,10 @@ class LogStash::Outputs::Statsd < LogStash::Outputs::Base
       @client.set(build_stat(event.sprintf(metric), sender),
                     event.sprintf(val), @sample_rate)
     end
+    @gauge.each do |metric, val|
+      @client.gauge(build_stat(event.sprintf(metric), sender),
+                    event.sprintf(val).to_f, @sample_rate)
+    end
   end # def receive
 
   def build_stat(metric, sender=@sender)
diff --git a/spec/filters/mutate.rb b/spec/filters/mutate.rb
index 41de4e87c..2db302934 100644
--- a/spec/filters/mutate.rb
+++ b/spec/filters/mutate.rb
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ describe LogStash::Filters::Mutate do
     config '
       filter {
         mutate {
-          remove => [ "remove-me", "remove-me2", "diedie" ]
+          remove => [ "remove-me", "remove-me2", "diedie", "[one][two]" ]
         }
       }'
 
@@ -60,12 +60,14 @@ describe LogStash::Filters::Mutate do
       "remove-me"  => "Goodbye!",
       "remove-me2" => 1234,
       "diedie"     => [1, 2, 3, 4],
-      "survivor"   => "Hello."
+      "survivor"   => "Hello.",
+      "one" => { "two" => "wee" }
     ) do
       insist { subject["survivor"] } == "Hello."
       reject { subject }.include?("remove-me")
       reject { subject }.include?("remove-me2")
       reject { subject }.include?("diedie")
+      reject { subject["one"] }.include?("two")
     end
   end