diff --git a/kafka/consumer/group.py b/kafka/consumer/group.py
index 27ed4da99..ed41d3098 100644
--- a/kafka/consumer/group.py
+++ b/kafka/consumer/group.py
@@ -390,6 +390,12 @@ def __init__(self, *topics, **configs):
             self._subscription.subscribe(topics=topics)
             self._client.set_topics(topics)
 
+    def bootstrap_connected(self):
+        """Return True if the bootstrap is connected."""
+        if self._client._bootstrap_fails > 0:
+            return False
+        return True
+
     def assign(self, partitions):
         """Manually assign a list of TopicPartitions to this consumer.
 
diff --git a/kafka/producer/kafka.py b/kafka/producer/kafka.py
index e6bd3b9a6..95e797a9c 100644
--- a/kafka/producer/kafka.py
+++ b/kafka/producer/kafka.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 from kafka.serializer import Serializer
 from kafka.structs import TopicPartition
 
-
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 PRODUCER_CLIENT_ID_SEQUENCE = AtomicInteger()
 
@@ -376,13 +375,13 @@ def __init__(self, **configs):
         reporters = [reporter() for reporter in self.config['metric_reporters']]
         self._metrics = Metrics(metric_config, reporters)
 
-        client = KafkaClient(metrics=self._metrics, metric_group_prefix='producer',
-                             wakeup_timeout_ms=self.config['max_block_ms'],
-                             **self.config)
+        self._client = KafkaClient(metrics=self._metrics, metric_group_prefix='producer',
+                                   wakeup_timeout_ms=self.config['max_block_ms'],
+                                   **self.config)
 
         # Get auto-discovered version from client if necessary
         if self.config['api_version'] is None:
-            self.config['api_version'] = client.config['api_version']
+            self.config['api_version'] = self._client.config['api_version']
 
         if self.config['compression_type'] == 'lz4':
             assert self.config['api_version'] >= (0, 8, 2), 'LZ4 Requires >= Kafka 0.8.2 Brokers'
@@ -398,9 +397,9 @@ def __init__(self, **configs):
 
         message_version = self._max_usable_produce_magic()
         self._accumulator = RecordAccumulator(message_version=message_version, metrics=self._metrics, **self.config)
-        self._metadata = client.cluster
+        self._metadata = self._client.cluster
         guarantee_message_order = bool(self.config['max_in_flight_requests_per_connection'] == 1)
-        self._sender = Sender(client, self._metadata,
+        self._sender = Sender(self._client, self._metadata,
                               self._accumulator, self._metrics,
                               guarantee_message_order=guarantee_message_order,
                               **self.config)
@@ -412,14 +411,22 @@ def __init__(self, **configs):
         atexit.register(self._cleanup)
         log.debug("Kafka producer started")
 
+    def bootstrap_connected(self):
+        """Return True if the bootstrap is connected."""
+        if self._client._bootstrap_fails > 0:
+            return False
+        return True
+
     def _cleanup_factory(self):
         """Build a cleanup clojure that doesn't increase our ref count"""
         _self = weakref.proxy(self)
+
         def wrapper():
             try:
                 _self.close(timeout=0)
             except (ReferenceError, AttributeError):
                 pass
+
         return wrapper
 
     def _unregister_cleanup(self):