diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6c6e4d8b..0b3ce8fc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -183,3 +183,20 @@ service-b:
 
 Now, `docker-compose up` and `docker-compose build` will work as
 expected.
+
+## Authentication and private Docker registry support
+
+Since version 1.3.0, the plugin will automatically use any configuration in
+your `~/.dockercfg` or `~/.docker/config.json` file when pulling, pushing, or
+building images to private registries.
+
+Additionally the plugin will enable support for Google Container Registry if it
+is able to successfully load [Google's "Application Default Credentials"][ADC].
+The plugin will also load Google credentials from the file pointed to by the
+environment variable `DOCKER_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS` if it is defined. Since GCR
+authentication requires retrieving short-lived access codes for the given
+credentials, support for this registry is baked into the underlying
+docker-client rather than having to first populate the docker config file
+before running the plugin.
+
+[ADC]: https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/application-default-credentials
diff --git a/extension/pom.xml b/extension/pom.xml
index e31b1569..1de69d72 100644
--- a/extension/pom.xml
+++ b/extension/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <artifactId>dockerfile-maven</artifactId>
     <groupId>com.spotify</groupId>
-    <version>1.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>1.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>dockerfile-maven-extension</artifactId>
diff --git a/plugin/pom.xml b/plugin/pom.xml
index 04f2f942..e27b6389 100644
--- a/plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/plugin/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.spotify</groupId>
     <artifactId>dockerfile-maven</artifactId>
-    <version>1.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>1.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>dockerfile-maven-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
       <groupId>com.spotify</groupId>
       <artifactId>docker-client</artifactId>
       <classifier>shaded</classifier>
-      <version>8.6.2</version>
+      <version>8.7.1</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.auth</groupId>
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.spotify</groupId>
       <artifactId>dockerfile-maven-extension</artifactId>
-      <version>1.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+      <version>1.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </dependency>
 
     <dependency>
diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/com/spotify/plugin/dockerfile/AbstractDockerMojo.java b/plugin/src/main/java/com/spotify/plugin/dockerfile/AbstractDockerMojo.java
index ba4c4d85..d535c737 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/com/spotify/plugin/dockerfile/AbstractDockerMojo.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/com/spotify/plugin/dockerfile/AbstractDockerMojo.java
@@ -20,24 +20,26 @@
 
 package com.spotify.plugin.dockerfile;
 
+import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials;
 import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.io.Files;
 import com.spotify.docker.client.DefaultDockerClient;
 import com.spotify.docker.client.DockerClient;
+import com.spotify.docker.client.auth.ConfigFileRegistryAuthSupplier;
+import com.spotify.docker.client.auth.MultiRegistryAuthSupplier;
+import com.spotify.docker.client.auth.RegistryAuthSupplier;
+import com.spotify.docker.client.auth.gcr.ContainerRegistryAuthSupplier;
 import com.spotify.docker.client.exceptions.DockerCertificateException;
-
-import com.spotify.docker.client.gcr.ContainerRegistryAuthSupplier;
-import com.spotify.docker.client.messages.RegistryAuthSupplier;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.text.MessageFormat;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
-
-import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
-
 import org.apache.maven.archiver.MavenArchiveConfiguration;
 import org.apache.maven.archiver.MavenArchiver;
 import org.apache.maven.execution.MavenSession;
@@ -380,16 +382,8 @@ protected static String formatImageName(@Nonnull String repository, @Nonnull Str
   }
 
   @Nonnull
-  protected DockerClient openDockerClient() throws MojoExecutionException {
-    ContainerRegistryAuthSupplier authSupplier = null;
-    try {
-      authSupplier = ContainerRegistryAuthSupplier.forApplicationDefaultCredentials()
-          .build();
-      getLog().info("Using Google application credentials");
-    } catch (IOException ex) {
-      // No GCP default credentials available
-      getLog().debug("Failed to create Google default credentials", ex);
-    }
+  private DockerClient openDockerClient() throws MojoExecutionException {
+    final RegistryAuthSupplier authSupplier = createRegistryAuthSupplier();
 
     try {
       return DefaultDockerClient.fromEnv()
@@ -401,4 +395,69 @@ protected DockerClient openDockerClient() throws MojoExecutionException {
       throw new MojoExecutionException("Could not load Docker certificates", e);
     }
   }
+
+  @Nonnull
+  private RegistryAuthSupplier createRegistryAuthSupplier() {
+    final List<RegistryAuthSupplier> suppliers = new ArrayList<>();
+    suppliers.add(new ConfigFileRegistryAuthSupplier());
+
+    try {
+      final RegistryAuthSupplier googleSupplier = googleContainerRegistryAuthSupplier();
+      if (googleSupplier != null) {
+        suppliers.add(0, googleSupplier);
+      }
+    } catch (IOException ex) {
+      getLog().info("ignoring exception while loading Google credentials", ex);
+    }
+
+    return new MultiRegistryAuthSupplier(suppliers);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Attempt to load a GCR compatible RegistryAuthSupplier based on a few conditions:
+   * <ol>
+   * <li>First check to see if the environemnt variable DOCKER_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS is set and points
+   * to a readable file</li>
+   * <li>Otherwise check if the Google Application Default Credentials can be loaded</li>
+   * </ol>
+   * Note that we use a special environment variable of our own in addition to any environment
+   * variable that the ADC loading uses (GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS) in case there is a need for
+   * the user to use the latter env var for some other purpose in their build.
+   *
+   * @return a GCR RegistryAuthSupplier, or null
+   * @throws IOException if an IOException occurs while loading the credentials
+   */
+  @Nullable
+  private RegistryAuthSupplier googleContainerRegistryAuthSupplier() throws IOException {
+    GoogleCredentials credentials = null;
+
+    final String googleCredentialsPath = System.getenv("DOCKER_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS");
+    if (googleCredentialsPath != null) {
+      final File file = new File(googleCredentialsPath);
+      if (file.exists()) {
+        try (FileInputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(file)) {
+          credentials = GoogleCredentials.fromStream(inputStream);
+          getLog().info("Using Google credentials from file: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    // use the ADC last
+    if (credentials == null) {
+      try {
+        credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault();
+        getLog().info("Using Google application default credentials");
+      } catch (IOException ex) {
+        // No GCP default credentials available
+        getLog().debug("Failed to load Google application default credentials", ex);
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (credentials == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    return ContainerRegistryAuthSupplier.forCredentials(credentials).build();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4f0e59f6..fc1d41ab 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>dockerfile-maven</artifactId>
-  <version>1.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <name>Dockerfile Maven Support</name>