diff --git a/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/tail.go b/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/tail.go
index 555727ba..38b3a323 100644
--- a/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/tail.go
+++ b/cmd/topicctl/subcmd/tail.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ type tailCmdConfig struct {
 	partitions []int
 	raw        bool
 	headers    bool
+	groupID    string
 
 	shared sharedOptions
 }
@@ -57,6 +58,12 @@ func init() {
 		true,
 		"Output message headers",
 	)
+	tailCmd.Flags().StringVar(
+		&tailConfig.groupID,
+		"group-id",
+		"",
+		"Consumer group ID to tail with",
+	)
 
 	addSharedFlags(tailCmd, &tailConfig.shared)
 	RootCmd.AddCommand(tailCmd)
@@ -97,6 +104,7 @@ func tailRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		"",
 		tailConfig.raw,
 		tailConfig.headers,
+		tailConfig.groupID,
 	)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/cli.go b/pkg/cli/cli.go
index 19b41067..2affb13b 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/cli.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/cli.go
@@ -657,9 +657,11 @@ func (c *CLIRunner) Tail(
 	filterRegexp string,
 	raw bool,
 	headers bool,
+	groupID string,
 ) error {
 	var err error
-	if len(partitions) == 0 {
+
+	if groupID == "" && len(partitions) == 0 {
 		topicInfo, err := c.adminClient.GetTopic(ctx, topic, false)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -672,6 +674,7 @@ func (c *CLIRunner) Tail(
 	tailer := messages.NewTopicTailer(
 		c.adminClient.GetConnector(),
 		topic,
+		groupID,
 		partitions,
 		offset,
 		10e3,
diff --git a/pkg/cli/repl.go b/pkg/cli/repl.go
index d1f26826..2bcc1d2d 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/repl.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/repl.go
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ func (r *Repl) executor(in string) {
 		if err := command.checkArgs(
 			2,
 			3,
-			map[string]struct{}{"filter": {}, "raw": {}},
+			map[string]struct{}{"filter": {}, "raw": {}, "group-id": {}},
 		); err != nil {
 			log.Errorf("Error: %+v", err)
 			return
@@ -410,6 +410,7 @@ func (r *Repl) executor(in string) {
 			filterRegexp,
 			command.getBoolValue("raw"),
 			command.getBoolValue("headers"),
+			command.flags["group-id"],
 		)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Errorf("Error: %+v", err)
diff --git a/pkg/messages/tail.go b/pkg/messages/tail.go
index 039b8bad..d2f67342 100644
--- a/pkg/messages/tail.go
+++ b/pkg/messages/tail.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 type TopicTailer struct {
 	Connector  *admin.Connector
 	topic      string
+	groupID    string
 	partitions []int
 	offset     int64
 	minBytes   int
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ type TopicTailer struct {
 func NewTopicTailer(
 	Connector *admin.Connector,
 	topic string,
+	groupID string,
 	partitions []int,
 	offset int64,
 	minBytes int,
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ func NewTopicTailer(
 	return &TopicTailer{
 		Connector:  Connector,
 		topic:      topic,
+		groupID:    groupID,
 		partitions: partitions,
 		offset:     offset,
 		minBytes:   minBytes,
@@ -77,32 +80,45 @@ type TailPartitionStats struct {
 	LastTime                  time.Time
 }
 
-// GetMessages gets a stream of messages from the tailer. These are passed
-// back through the argument channel.
-func (t *TopicTailer) GetMessages(
-	ctx context.Context,
-	messagesChan chan TailMessage,
-) {
-	readers := []*kafka.Reader{}
+func (t *TopicTailer) buildReaders() []*kafka.Reader {
+	baseReaderCfg := kafka.ReaderConfig{
+		Brokers:        []string{t.Connector.Config.BrokerAddr},
+		Dialer:         t.Connector.Dialer,
+		Topic:          t.topic,
+		GroupID:        t.groupID,
+		MinBytes:       t.minBytes,
+		MaxBytes:       t.maxBytes,
+		ReadBackoffMin: 200 * time.Millisecond,
+		ReadBackoffMax: 3 * time.Second,
+		MaxAttempts:    5,
+	}
+	if t.groupID != "" {
+		c := baseReaderCfg
+		c.GroupID = t.groupID
+		return []*kafka.Reader{
+			kafka.NewReader(c),
+		}
+	}
 
+	readers := []*kafka.Reader{}
 	for _, partition := range t.partitions {
-		reader := kafka.NewReader(
-			kafka.ReaderConfig{
-				Brokers:        []string{t.Connector.Config.BrokerAddr},
-				Dialer:         t.Connector.Dialer,
-				Topic:          t.topic,
-				Partition:      partition,
-				MinBytes:       t.minBytes,
-				MaxBytes:       t.maxBytes,
-				ReadBackoffMin: 200 * time.Millisecond,
-				ReadBackoffMax: 3 * time.Second,
-				MaxAttempts:    5,
-			},
-		)
+		c := baseReaderCfg
+		c.Partition = partition
 
+		reader := kafka.NewReader(c)
 		reader.SetOffset(t.offset)
 		readers = append(readers, reader)
 	}
+	return readers
+}
+
+// GetMessages gets a stream of messages from the tailer. These are passed
+// back through the argument channel.
+func (t *TopicTailer) GetMessages(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	messagesChan chan TailMessage,
+) {
+	readers := t.buildReaders()
 
 	for _, reader := range readers {
 		go func(r *kafka.Reader) {
@@ -180,17 +196,18 @@ func (t *TopicTailer) LogMessages(
 		PartitionStats: map[int]*TailPartitionStats{},
 	}
 
-	for _, partition := range t.partitions {
-		stats.PartitionStats[partition] = &TailPartitionStats{}
-	}
-
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return stats, ctx.Err()
 		case tailMessage := <-messagesChan:
 			partition := tailMessage.Partition
-			partitionStats := stats.PartitionStats[partition]
+
+			partitionStats, ok := stats.PartitionStats[partition]
+			if !ok {
+				partitionStats = &TailPartitionStats{}
+				stats.PartitionStats[partition] = partitionStats
+			}
 
 			if tailMessage.Err != nil {
 				log.Warnf("Got error: %+v", tailMessage.Err)
diff --git a/pkg/messages/tail_test.go b/pkg/messages/tail_test.go
index 90f68d4b..22c93843 100644
--- a/pkg/messages/tail_test.go
+++ b/pkg/messages/tail_test.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ func TestTailerGetMessages(t *testing.T) {
 	tailer := NewTopicTailer(
 		connector,
 		topicName,
+		"",
 		[]int{0, 1, 2, 3},
 		kafka.FirstOffset,
 		1,