A self-contained beverage dispensing apparatus, which is adapted for commercial and/or home use as an alternative to traditional canned beverage service, is provided. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing apparatus is highly portable and of sufficient dimension to be positioned on a conventional airline beverage cart and stored in an aircraft's cargo storage compartment. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing apparatus can be selectively locked and secured with a mechanism that will indicate whether any pre-flight tampering has occurred. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing apparatus is further comprised of at least one beverage dispensing mechanism that can be extended from within the housing for use and later retracted for storage. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing apparatus can be used with beverage containers with mouths of varying sizes.