I disagree with the cocktail item, trading lives for high speed is really useful and you're never at risk of dying immediately after using it, since it doubles as a Power Pellet. And besides, the power-up never spawns with no warning and now you see the 3 its cycles between, so I find it's pretty easy to just avoid if you don't want to take the risk.
I do agree with you on the tall grass gimmick though, the challenge coming from "I can't see shit" just isn't fun. That one is far more egregious to me than the cocktail item.