Native English UK Reader here and whilst the words have essentially the same meaning, I would definitely have a different take away from these two: - John is a

Native English UK Reader here and whilst the words have essentially the same meaning, I would definitely have a different take away from these two: - John is a nice guy, but he beats his dog. - John beats his dog, but he's a nice guy. For me, the difference is that the second one carries more of an implication that the speaker doesn't consider dog beating all that problematic since even though John does it, he's still a nice guy. Also, to me, the first one is more judgemental towards John than the second.