prayers for rain

2 oz Espolon Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz Cantaloupe Syrup (*)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Galliano L'Autentico
1 dash Regan's Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a rocks glass (or cocktail coupe), and garnish with an oregano sprig (here, clipped onto the glass with a slitted lemon twist).
(*) Cubed cantaloupe melon blended and fine strained. This juice was mixed with an equal part of sugar and stirred until dissolved. I avoided heat to retain more aroma and to not give the melon a cooked flavor.
Two Mondays ago for my second shift at the Cocktail Lab located in Earl's Prudential, I decided to do an uniting theme of drinks named after song titles from The Cure's Disintegration album. For the first of the trio that I dubbed Prayers for Rain, I was inspired by the cantaloupes that I had been buying at my local market, and it reminded me of a Day of the Dead cantaloupe drink that I had tried years ago called the Marigold Ofrenda. I thought of this drink as a re-envisioned Margarita and returned some orange notes to the mix via Regan's bitters. However, the combination needed some pizazz so I added a touch of Galliano to donate complementary vanilla and star anise notes to the mix. For a garnish, my oregano patch in my garden had been doing rather well and it seemed like a perfect Mexican-appropriate touch to the drink.