diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index ca632e00..31720f63 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# build and test locally
+# test locally
+TESTDIR=build_test
+rm -rf "$TESTDIR"
+# run client tests with ASAN enabled
+meson "$TESTDIR" -Db_sanitize=address
+ninja -C"$TESTDIR" test
+
 BUILDDIR=build_release
 rm -rf "$BUILDDIR"
 meson "$BUILDDIR" --buildtype release --strip -Db_lto=true
 cd "$BUILDDIR"
 ninja
-ninja test
 cd -
 
 # build Windows releases