diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
index 7ddb99573..7b190fe30 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile
+++ b/GNUmakefile
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ deps:  ## Install build and development dependencies
 	go get -u github.com/elazarl/go-bindata-assetfs/go-bindata-assetfs
 	go get -u github.com/a8m/tree/cmd/tree
 	go get -u github.com/magiconair/vendorfmt/cmd/vendorfmt
-	go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go
+	@bash -C "$(PROJECT_ROOT)/scripts/install-protoc-gen-go.sh"
 	go get -u gotest.tools/gotestsum
 
 .PHONY: lint-deps
diff --git a/scripts/install-protoc-gen-go.sh b/scripts/install-protoc-gen-go.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0a84f26b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/install-protoc-gen-go.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+GIT_TAG="v1.2.0" # change as needed
+echo "Installing protobuf/protoc-gen-go@${GIT_TAG} ..."
+
+# Either fetch in existing repo or use go get to clone
+git -C "$(go env GOPATH)"/src/github.com/golang/protobuf fetch -q || go get -d -u github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go
+git -C "$(go env GOPATH)"/src/github.com/golang/protobuf checkout --quiet $GIT_TAG
+go install github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go