diff --git a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieCatalog.java b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieCatalog.java
index af5457327442..0c91cfb1dbe1 100644
--- a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieCatalog.java
+++ b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieCatalog.java
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ public void initialize(String name, Map<String, String> options) {
                 options.get(NessieConfigConstants.CONF_NESSIE_CLIENT_BUILDER_IMPL))
             .fromConfig(x -> options.get(removePrefix.apply(x)));
     // default version is set to v1.
-    final String apiVersion = options.getOrDefault(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION, "1");
+    final String apiVersion =
+        options.getOrDefault(removePrefix.apply(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION), "1");
     NessieApiV1 api;
     switch (apiVersion) {
       case "1":
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ public void initialize(String name, Map<String, String> options) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException(
             String.format(
                 "Unsupported %s: %s. Can only be 1 or 2",
-                NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION, apiVersion));
+                removePrefix.apply(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION), apiVersion));
     }
 
     initialize(
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/BaseTestIceberg.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/BaseTestIceberg.java
index bbc299dca0ab..5a9bbc273837 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/BaseTestIceberg.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/BaseTestIceberg.java
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ public abstract class BaseTestIceberg {
 
   protected NessieCatalog catalog;
   protected NessieApiV1 api;
-  private NessieApiVersion apiVersion;
+  protected String apiVersion;
   protected Configuration hadoopConfig;
   protected final String branch;
   private String initialHashOfDefaultBranch;
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public void beforeEach(NessieClientFactory clientFactory, @NessieClientUri URI n
       throws IOException {
     this.uri = nessieUri.toASCIIString();
     this.api = clientFactory.make();
-    this.apiVersion = clientFactory.apiVersion();
+    this.apiVersion = clientFactory.apiVersion() == NessieApiVersion.V2 ? "2" : "1";
 
     Branch defaultBranch = api.getDefaultBranch();
     initialHashOfDefaultBranch = defaultBranch.getHash();
@@ -147,10 +147,8 @@ NessieCatalog initCatalog(String ref, String hash) {
             .put("ref", ref)
             .put(CatalogProperties.URI, uri)
             .put("auth-type", "NONE")
-            .put(CatalogProperties.WAREHOUSE_LOCATION, temp.toUri().toString());
-    if (apiVersion == NessieApiVersion.V2) {
-      options.put(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION, "2");
-    }
+            .put(CatalogProperties.WAREHOUSE_LOCATION, temp.toUri().toString())
+            .put("client-api-version", apiVersion);
     if (null != hash) {
       options.put("ref.hash", hash);
     }
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestCustomNessieClient.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestCustomNessieClient.java
index 2a3c0c85e000..40341358073f 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestCustomNessieClient.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestCustomNessieClient.java
@@ -48,7 +48,9 @@ public void testNoCustomClient() {
             CatalogProperties.WAREHOUSE_LOCATION,
             temp.toUri().toString(),
             CatalogProperties.URI,
-            uri));
+            uri,
+            "client-api-version",
+            apiVersion));
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -62,7 +64,9 @@ public void testUnnecessaryDefaultCustomClient() {
             CatalogProperties.URI,
             uri,
             NessieConfigConstants.CONF_NESSIE_CLIENT_BUILDER_IMPL,
-            HttpClientBuilder.class.getName()));
+            HttpClientBuilder.class.getName(),
+            "client-api-version",
+            apiVersion));
   }
 
   @Test
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieCatalog.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieCatalog.java
index 77e2de2c341a..130a984fa2a9 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieCatalog.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieCatalog.java
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ private NessieCatalog initNessieCatalog(String ref) {
             .put("auth-type", "NONE")
             .put(CatalogProperties.WAREHOUSE_LOCATION, temp.toUri().toString());
     if (apiVersion == NessieApiVersion.V2) {
-      options.put(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION, "2");
+      options.put("client-api-version", "2");
     }
     newCatalog.initialize("nessie", options.buildOrThrow());
     return newCatalog;
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieIcebergClient.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieIcebergClient.java
index 11dd0473a573..12fa807dcfb6 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieIcebergClient.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieIcebergClient.java
@@ -96,10 +96,10 @@ public void testInvalidClientApiVersion() throws IOException {
     try (NessieCatalog newCatalog = new NessieCatalog()) {
       newCatalog.setConf(hadoopConfig);
       ImmutableMap.Builder<String, String> options =
-          ImmutableMap.<String, String>builder().put(NessieUtil.CLIENT_API_VERSION, "3");
+          ImmutableMap.<String, String>builder().put("client-api-version", "3");
       Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(() -> newCatalog.initialize("nessie", options.buildOrThrow()))
           .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
-          .hasMessage("Unsupported nessie.client-api-version: 3. Can only be 1 or 2");
+          .hasMessage("Unsupported client-api-version: 3. Can only be 1 or 2");
     }
   }
 }