It’s probably an attempt to convey the idea “fragrance”. When I was in Japan, I encountered all sorts of hilarious English.
For those of you who don’t read katakana, that little green sign reads “pabu sume-ru”, which is as close as Japanes phonetic script can get to approximating “Pub Smell”.
I used to drink that. Don’t recall how it tasted; it was thought of as a sports drink. Japanese soft drinks tend to be very mild in flavor. Most Americans would find them rather diluted-seeming. There’s another, Calpis (what a name) that seems to have milk in it, just enough to make it cloudy. Strange it was to me.
I like the pub smell, especially when I first walk in. Kind of redolent of something, in the same way as that leathery satchel-smell of schoolrooms, or dusty old books, or the changing-room after school football on a winter’s day, or a new baby’s bedroom. Ah.