diff --git a/lib/ShipIt/ProjectType/Perl/MakeMaker.pm b/lib/ShipIt/ProjectType/Perl/MakeMaker.pm
index 381158a..01f6692 100644
--- a/lib/ShipIt/ProjectType/Perl/MakeMaker.pm
+++ b/lib/ShipIt/ProjectType/Perl/MakeMaker.pm
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ sub disttest {
     my $self = shift;
 
     $self->prepare_build;
-    $self->run_build('disttest')  or die "Disttest failed";
+    {
+        local $ENV{RELEASE_TESTING} = 1;
+        $self->run_build('disttest') or die "Disttest failed";
+    }
     $self->run_build('distclean') or die "Distclean failed";
 
     my @missing    = manicheck;