Dan Murphy, co-owner of a startup brewery in East Sacramento posted on his personal Facebook page about the 1/21/17 Women’s March. Who knows why he had that impulse. He shared a video and posted:

“I am disgusted at all the people and politicians that supported this Anti-Trump event. The left just can’t accept loss and think they can protest their way to victory. You can’t. I am especially disgusted with the politicians that supported this divisive event. Time to vote all of these pieces of garbage out of office.”

Word about this got around, somehow. Facebook is not a secret place. A lot of people were offended. (Personal disclosure by Sumac: I marched, not in Sacramento. My sister marched in Sacramento.) Some looked into his posting history and publicized bits of it.

The day after the election Murphy posted, “Thank God Trump is our next president. Obama has just about ruined this country. Now we can deport all the illegals, build a wall to keep them out and throw the Clintons in jail. Our Supreme Court will have Justices that will defend our Constitution. It is a great day for America. I have had a lot of friends (even childhood friends) that don’t speak to me anymore. I also have relatives that are the same way. Get over it. You lost. Move on or move out of the Country. I’ll help you pack your bags. Now friends, neighbors and family are deleting my posts. You are all pathetic. Go ahead and writhe in your misery. I will continue to support my Country!”

In December he shared a photo from Politically Incorrect and Proud of It Too, captioned: “Pointing out that Islam/is a barbaric evil cult, /that gained its members/through terror and fear/is not insulting Islam/It is describing Islam/….Islam is for Cretins….”

Back in May 2015 he posted (with a picture of a Chick-fil-A Tshirt): “I guess only gays get free speech. No one should get special treatment just for being gay. Marriage has always been one man and one woman. No one is taking any rights away. There had never been a right to marry your own sex. God defined marriage as one man and one woman.”

The Facebook page for the brewery bubbled with rage from people who opposed him and people who supported him. Insults, insulting speculation, and vows never to drink/always to drink Twelve Rounds beer flew wildly. Never read the comments. Also there were people who showed up in person, to protest, not to quaff.

Young Republicans got together there, heralded by this Facebook post “JOIN US! The Sac YRs will be at Twelve Rounds Brewing Company after 5 p.m. tonight to help support this local business after an unfortunate backlash over social media posts. While the YRs do not condone what was said in the posts, we do encourage free speech and small businesses.” Murphy does have the right to free speech, which he used. Others used their free speech to say how much they hate what he said. As is their right.

Judging from his earlier posting, Murphy is used to disagreement and insults and people cutting off contact. But now a lot of people didn’t feel the same about Twelve Rounds beer. A restaurant he’d partnered with left the deal. Some cafes and pubs that had served the beer said they wouldn’t any more. Twelve Rounds had to withdraw from the Art of Beer Invitational. And what, we know you are asking yourself, what about Beer Week? We’ll see, but it’s not looking good.

So, an apology on January 23:

Hello everyone. I want to make it clear that I have nothing but the utmost respect for women. You can ask my wife, my employees and my friends. I posted on my personal page that I am tired of seeing people protest and in some cases, riot, because Trump won. My understanding is that the Women’s March was to protest Trump. I just want people to all get along and move forward. I am sorry if I offended anyone. I had no intention of doing that.

He posted again the next day:

I am very sorry.

Yesterday evening I posted something on my personal Facebook page that was born out of frustration and anger and it came across as judgmental. I wouldn’t want anybody to judge me without knowing me so that definitely was not my intent. Upon further reflection, I can see how my personal post was offensive and hurtful to many people who were peacefully protesting for what they believe in. I am very sorry.

I hope you give us another chance. We poured our heart and life savings into 12 Rounds. I would understand if you didn’t — we all have to pay for our mistakes — but in a world that needs less division and more healing, I would hope that you would find it in your heart to do so.

We invite you over to our brewery if you ever want to talk to us and get to know the real us. A former president once invited two disagreeing parties to talk over a beer. I think that’s a great idea.

I yi yi.

The first apology is terrible. It starts as an example of the That’s Not Who I Am genre, with the popular Some of My Best Friends Are [Women] for evidence. It subtly restates grievance – ‘Some people rioted!’ (Where?) ‘It was my personal page!’ ‘I say we move forward!’

It’s evasive. He hints that maybe he misunderstood when he thought the march was to protest Trump. Right. He doesn’t acknowledge or take back calling people disgusting. He doesn’t say what’s disgusting about protests. (We don’t know if he’s a Tea Party guy, but if he is, what does he think the Boston Tea Party was? A gesture of support for George III?)

And then it moves into sorry-if territory. Sorry if I offended anyone. Really? He says, twice, that he’s ‘disgusted‘ and he didn’t mean to offend? And he knows now that he did.

Yeah, no.

The second apology says he’s sorry without ifs, so that is better. Do you get the feeling someone explained things to him – and he partly understands?

He’s still defensive. He didn’t intend it! He again says that it was his personal page! Not representing the brewery. Just him. Co-owner of the brewery. And he hints we shouldn’t make his mistake and pre-judge him.

In what must be a cry from the heart, he alludes to the harm being done to their small family business. He makes an appeal to compassion, to healing, to unity, and to the power of having a beer together. There’s that odd reference to a “former president [who] once invited two disagreeing parties to talk over a beer. I think that’s a great idea.” That’s Obama. Can’t bring himself to type his name, but hope it will soften angry Democrats? Weird.

He’s still minimizing, glossing over things like calling people “disgusting.” (And why is he so frustrated? As he has pointed out, his candidate won. Get over it!)

One terrible apology, and one merely bad apology.

SorryWatch does apology analysis. We don’t have a lot to say about business plans. Yet we know that if you’re in a hospitality business, it’s a bad plan to display contempt for prospective customers. Not sure there are enough Young Republicans to keep Twelve Rounds afloat.

We don’t want to be part of an internet-accelerated pile-on that takes down a small business. Hell, the place makes dark beers, and Sumac likes dark beer. Twelve Rounds struggled for several years renovating an old building, finding out it needed re-wiring, and negotiating and re-negotiating SBA loans. Hey, cool old building.

Sumac regularly has reason to pass through Sacramento. Should she stop at Twelve Rounds Brewing Company to talk to Dan Murphy over a Peaky Sneat Scottish Ale? Knowing that he is disgusted by her and worse, by her little sister?

Beers with someone who disagrees with you – yeah, that can be a good step. Beers with someone who hates you and your kind? Um. If she’s with gay friends, should they take off their wedding rings? What if she’s with Muslim friends, or undocumented friends?

Well. What if it’s just rage-fueled rhetoric? What if he is capable of talking and listening without “disgust”? That would be a good thing. It would be a step away from ugliness, divisiveness, and pointless pigeonholing.

But disgust. That’s difficult to get past. Makes it hard to swallow.